Proposal to Establish a Community Based Observing (CBO) Sub Group Within the SAON Committee

Proposal to Establish a Community Based Observing (CBO) Sub Group Within the SAON Committee

Proposal to Establish a Community Based Observing (CBO) Sub Group within the SAON Committee on Observations and Networks (CON)

1. Evolution of the CBO Initiative

Community Based Observing is a co-developed human-technology approach in partnership with remote, often Indigenous, communities in the Arctic. It is a unique and stand-alone consideration in both “observations” and “networks” and requires a group dedicated to defining and growing this science and practice. We propose to work with SAON to develop best practices that can be applied to a highly interoperable and interconnected Arctic CBO system within a larger global context. CBO spans the needs of both science and operations on the ground. This proposal originated in April 2013, with a National Science Foundation (NSF) workshop on which Dr. Alessa was a PI. This was followed by a) high level meeting that took place at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA, USA in October of 2015 and a discussion that took place during the Arctic Observing Open Science (AOOS) Meeting, also in October 15. At this latter meeting, we established a CBO Working Group which formed in partnership with the Arctic Executive Steering Committee (AESC) and the United States Global Change Research Program (USGCRP). It was chaired by Dr. Alessa with significant inputs from the AESC. The CBO Working Group consists of 28 individuals representing the governments of Canada, the United States and Russia, federal and state agencies, 2 Indigenous permanent participants and several Alaska tribal entities. It was determined by this group that a permanent entity needed to be established in the form of a sub-group within SAON. The intention is to complement current activities related to CBO currently being carried out under SAON-CON (i.e. the Atlas of Community Based Monitoring and Indigenous Knowledge in a Changing Arctic). In January 2016, Dr. Alessa proposed a CBO entity to Dr. Lisa Loseto, Chair of the CON and Dr. Peter Pulsifer, Chair of the Arctic Data Committee (DC).

2. Purpose of a CBO Sub Committee

The purpose of establishing a permanent CBO Working Group is to coalesce a critical mass of individuals who either participate in or are have expertise in community based observing for a range of activities across the CBO Typology spectrum (see below).

While the dialogue started primarily with U.S., Canadian and Russian participants, there was early recognition of the importance of a broadly, internationally coordinated approach. The intended outcomes included: a) a set of co-developed Best Practices toward data interoperability that will allow CBO to widely and consistently be applied across a range of users, from communities on the ground to state, provincial and national agencies , b) continued inclusion of communities and community-serving organizations will ensure that these best practices put the communities, regardless of their locale, at the heart of CBO and c) work toward international standardization/conciliation/cohesion of data. At present, we are proposing to work with SAON to explore possibilities and develop a model that would help realize the vision of a highly interconnected global CBO system, focusing on data legacies to date, data needs going forward into the future and means to sustain these activities in ways that optimize resources, knowledges and technologies.

3. Governance for a CBO Sub Group

The CBO Sub Group will adhere to the governance frameworks of existing structures within SAON CON and ADC. The co-Chairs will work with the SAON Executive and Board to establish a high level governance body that would be broadly inclusive (PPs, Community Reps, Academia, Industry, Agencies) to guide the process. At a more pragmatic level the co-Chairs, in collaboration with CON and ADC will establish more focused “day to day” coordination and implementation plans around the parameters established by the higher level governance body. Ad hoc teams consisting of small focused groups will carry out specific initiatives and tasks, soliciting inputs and feedbacks as the product is delivered.

4. Membership

Each Arctic Nation can forward names of individuals who they feel should be included in the CBO Working Group. More broadly, we propose to invite formal attendance for interested parties and organizations. The establishment of a core leadership team, in addition to the proposed co Chairs, Dr. Lilian Na’ia Alessa and Mr. Craig Fleener could consist of the Arctic Council Permanent Participants. For those who wish to remain involved, we also propose to carry over initial members which are currently part of a CBO-Working Group operating under the auspices of the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) in partnership with the Arctic Executive Steering Committee (AESC).

5. Location of the CBO Sub Committee Within CON

In the interest of ensuring collaboration, coordination and communication across relevant areas, specifically the community engagement piece (through CON) and the data interoperability and usage piece, through the Arctic Data Committee (ADC), the CBO Workgroup will include the chairs of the SAON committees (presently Lisa Loseto and Peter Pulsifer) as part of its core leadership to ensure connectivities between these two critical groups. Should the CBO Sub Committee demonstrate a need to operate as a distinct, stand-alone group, the co Chairs in consultation with the SAON committee chairs will propose to the SAON Board and Executive Committee a change in the CBO Steering Committee’s status.

6. Potential for linkage to Arctic Data Committee or other organizations

The CBO Sub Group will interface with the Arctic Data Committee in order to address a core challenge inherent in CBO integration with Arctic observing networks broadly: data interoperability. In addition, the CBO Sub Group will interact with interested Arctic Council Working Groups.

7. Proposed Next Steps

The ideas proposed within this document are not a statement of what the CBO should be or how it will develop, but rather that there is a critical mass of practitioners and good timing for an opportunity to enhance SAON through inclusion of USGCRP/AESC CBO Working Group. A proposed next step is that a small team would work to develop a more detailed scope and plan in consultation with key stakeholders. The results of this scoping plan could be ready for presentation to the SAON Board for consideration by June 2016. This plan will provide more details on how initiative would complement existing SAON efforts, and how inter-related governance could work. This document is presented in the hopes that the idea of a CBO Sub Group within CON has enough merit for the Board to entertain such a proposal.