Project period: 9 16 24-9 15 26PROJECT title: social network analysis of the environmental justice and climate justice community active in climate adaptation and conservationthe purpose of this…

Project period: 9 16 24-9 15 26PROJECT title: social network analysis of the environmental justice and climate justice community active in climate adaptation and conservationthe purpose of this project is to develop and test a social network analysis methodology for the national and regional climate adaptation science centers to identify, map, and measure relationship patterns among organizations engaging in environmental and climate justice work related to climate adaptation and conservation. The project is organized around three primary objectives: 1) identify climate adaptation science center partners and other relevant organizations engaging in environmental and climate justice work related to climate adaptation and conservation 2) assess the relationships and relationship characteristics among identified organizations, focusing on aspects such as relationship strength, length, interaction frequency, trust, purpose, and information flow, and 3) develop a methodology for a social network analysis to identify, map, and measure relationship patterns, applying the methodology in a national analysis for the national climate adaptation science center and within the northwest and northeast regional climate adaptation science centers. To facilitate the initial identification of climate adaptation science center member organizations, partners, and relevant organizations engaging in environmental and climate justice work related to climate adaptation and conservation, will engage in two main processes: 1) focus groups with climate adaptation science center leaders and 2) web searches on relevant organizations engaging in environmental and climate justice work related to climate adaptation and conservation. To assess relationships and relationship characteristics, data will be collected via text mining of information on climate adaptation science center projects and associated publications and online surveys of identified organizations to understand the characteristics of their relationships. These relationship characteristics, which will inform the development of network layers in our analyses, will include relationship strength, length, interaction frequency, trust, purpose, and information flow. Further, will assess the activities and preferences of organizations related to environmental and climate justice in the context of conservation and climate adaptation. Following data collection, will construct and validate the networks. Finally, to develop and apply the social network analysis methodology, will create code in r and python for multilayer social network analysis. First, using existing relationships and their characteristics as the base, will identify current collaborative groups or coalitions and potential synergistic groups of organizations working to advance environmental and climate justice within the context of conservation and climate adaptation. Second, will assess generalizable predictors of how successful and effective collaborative ties are formed within the climate adaptation science center network, with such information especially useful for resource managers looking to expand and strengthen their partnerships. Third, will examine variations across the regional and national networks. Deliverables and expected outcomes include an open-source code repository on github written in r and python that contains the code for developing and analyzing social networks for the national and regional climate adaptation science centers a methodology report, a research summary report, and a presentation to climate adaptation science center leaders and dissemination of findings via peer-reviewed publications and conferences. Intended beneficiaries of the project include the climate adaptation science centers, resource managers, restoration professionals, and land stewards.