VIDEO DESCRIPTION:

Play, download and edit the free video Catherine Ashcraft and Weiwedi Mo, Mitchell Center Talk Series, 9/27/2021.

Title: Rendezvous for Sustainability: Creating space for science-based collaborative solutions

Speakers:
Catherine Ashcraft and Weiwei Mo, University of New Hampshire (UNH)

The United States is heavily dammed. The National Inventory of Dams lists more than 90,000 dams, not including 200,000 smaller dams. Dams provided benefits, such as hydropower, water supply, and recreation but also contribute to negative impacts, such as altering stream flow, impairing water quality, and disrupting ecosystem connectivity. Decisions
about dams highlight challenges for sustainability partnerships and the science-policy interface. Cat and Weiwei have developed an integrated role-play simulation and system dynamics model to respond to the challenges of dam decision-making. This approach integrates knowledge from researchers and potential users and creates a safe space to bring them together to interact, learn about dam systems and one another’s priorities, and foster innovations in problem-solving. In their talk, Cat and Weiwei will discuss the positive outcomes from several place-based, role-play simulation
workshops including stakeholder negotiated solutions. Their findings highlight the potential for science-informed, stakeholder-engaged approaches to inform decision-making and improve environmental and economic outcomes.

Cat Ashcraft is an assistant prof. of natural resources and the environment. She is interested in the human dimensions of ecological systems and focuses on how environmental policies and institutions are negotiated and designed to foster
justice and respond to change. Weiwei Mo is an associate prof. in civil and environmental engineering. Her expertise is in sustainability and resiliency assessment, infrastructure system planning and management, and social-infrastructure-ecological systems modeling.

For more information about the 2021 Maine Sustainability & Water Conference, go to umaine.edu/mitchellcenter/2021-maine-sustainability-water-conference/.

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