Improving rangeland climate services for ranchers and pastoralists with social science

Abstract

Rangeland climate services — knowledge resources that integrate information on climate to facilitate decision-making for ranchers and pastoralists — have the potential to facilitate sustainable decisions under variable climate conditions. Yet the design of climate services often fails to fully address the behavioral, cultural, social, and institutional factors that motivate or disincentivize end-users. Thus, we review how research on risk and uncertainty preferences, different ways of knowing, social relations, and institutional arrangements affect the use of these services. We focus on web-based climate services and provide two case examples of services used in the United States and globally. We conclude with considerations for improving rangeland climate services, for instance, by including end-users in the development process.