DOs and DON’Ts for using climate change information for water resource planning and management: guidelines for study design

By Jeremy Fyke

This recently-released article from the Climate Services journal, authored in part by some key climate/hydrology researchers just across the border in Washington State, is excellent.

In summary, this article provides 9 excellent Do/Don’t guidelines for integrating climate change information into water resource planning. These are:

1. DO recognize benefits that go beyond climate change preparedness
2. DO start by determining the level of detail that fits your need and resources
3. DON’T start from scratch; leverage the work and expertise of others
4. DON’T wait to decide evaluation criteria for assessing climate impacts
5. DO identify the major uncertainties that will impact your decision and assess their magnitude
6. DON’T expect every climate change question will be answerable with currently available models and datasets
7. DON’T wait until new information is available, there will always be new research and models coming soon
8. DO plan for iterations as the first time you download climate data should not be your last
9. DO be aware of multiple ways to evaluate future change – climate change scenarios are helpful, but there are other tools too