Outreach, education and knowledge mobilization for effective use of ecosystem-based approaches

Abstract

An ecosystem-based approach requires an integration of knowledge systems and collaborative practices. The purpose of outreach, education, and knowledge mobilization is to (1) enhance the environmental literacy of people about the critical ecological and social functions of their ambient ecosystems; and (2) to enhance the production of information, the availability of information across the greatest range of stakeholders, and the transformation of information into experiential knowledge. We focus on these two purposes in the Laurentian Great Lakes of North America, where an ecosystem approach has been a guiding framework for policy and programming for decades. A literature review of outreach, education, and knowledge mobilization is presented with several supporting exemplar case studies and a concluding discussion of interconnected characteristics of outreach, education and knowledge mobilization that include intersectionality, place-based engagement, systems perspective, collaboration, and governance network learning capacity. Recommendations for practice focus on the importance of community engagement, community science, communities of practice, bridging organizations, watershed councils, governmental and other partnerships, financial supports and incentives, access to data, professional development, and policy development.