Knowledge Translation Planning

Knowledge Translation means moving beyond a paradigm that views research as a commodity to be exchanged and decision making as an event. Rather both are processes, sometimes messy, that work best when coordinated (Lomas 2000.) Without this support, monitoring risks veering towards what is interesting, rather than what is important, and decision makers lose trust in the monitoring outputs (Cook et al. 2013.) For monitoring outcomes to inform decision making, the information must be “salient (relevant and timely), credible (authoritative, believable and trusted), and legitimate (developed via a process that considers the values and perspectives of all actors).” (Cook et al. 2013). Without effort to bridge the needs of Indigenous communities with the execution of monitoring, monitoring loses salience and legitimacy.

This is a particularly pressing issue for Indigenous communities. Decades of development have resulted in various impacts to the landscape that contribute to social, cultural, and rights-based impacts. Communities have in many cases been assured by the Crown that their concerns will be mitigated, in part, by environmental monitoring. From the communities’ perspective, this means that monitoring must be actionable, and increase the ability of members to make informed decisions about their landscape, resources, and to empower land management decisions.

Knowledge translation aims to address this gap. It includes identifying knowledge translation goals (empowerment? Awareness? Improved safety? Improved trust in traditional resources?) and strategies (educational outreach? Community-focused state of environment reporting? co-development of monitoring programs?), identifying decision makers (community members, community leadership, government or industry, or a combination?), and developing an analytical plan to meet those information needs.

References:

Cook et al. 2013. Achieving Conservation Science that Bridges the Knowledge–Action Boundary. Conservation Biology, 27(4): 669
Lomas, J. 2000. Using ‘Linkage and Exchange’ to move research into policy at a Canadian foundation. Health Affairs, 19(3).