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Notes from the SCAR President, number 25 (5 July 2010)
SCAR Strategic Plan – Part 2
Colleagues,
As we are quickly approaching our meetings in Buenos Aires, I will deal with several sections of the DRAFT Strategic Plan 2011-2016 in these targeted emails. As I have indicated there will be many opportunities at the biennial meeting and through the end of 2010 to provide additional input. Your advice and opinions are essential to the process as we move toward a consensus document. I once again provide a complete copy of the document for ease of reference (Draft 4.1 - unchanged). In the next few weeks, a revised Strategic Plan will be posted to the Delegates Meeting documents web page (accessible only by SCAR Members) incorporating input to date.
First I wanted to discuss a question raised by some comments about the scope of the current strategic plan. Strategic plans come in a wide range of formats, structures and target audiences. The current draft plan by design primarily deals with the philosophical aspects and aspirations of the organization (its missions and goals) and a vision for the future. Specific actions to accomplish the wished for outcomes will be addressed in a second document - the Implementation Plan. This structure has been widely used and allows the Strategic Plan to concentrate on setting overarching goals and the grand vision of where the organization is and should be going. An Implementation Plan by design deals with explicit actions, responsible parties, and completion dates. SCAR practice has been to produce an Implementation Plan on a regular basis in the form of a work plan that clearly maps actions against the goals of strategic plan and is updated on a regular basis. However, the content and scope of the Strategic Plan will be a subject of discussion and ways to make the document more focused on future actions and explicit outcomes will be carefully considered. I also have concerns about the length of the document and expanding its scope will undoubtedly increase length. The Strategic Plan is intended to reach a much broader audience external to SCAR and we should be aware of this as we move forward.
The next sections to consider are Scientific Advice, Partnerships, and Data and Information Management. Brief summaries are provided followed by questions to guide your review.
Scientific Advice - SCAR provides objective and independent scientific advice to the Antarctic Treaty Parties and other organizations on issues affecting the management of Antarctica and the relationship between Antarctica and the Earth system. SCAR communicates scientific information about the Antarctic region to educate and inform policy makers and the general public. Historically SCAR has primarily advised the Antarctic Treaty Parties (ATP). SCAR highly values its role as a policy adviser and strives to continually enhance its position as a leader in science-based advice to policy makers. SCAR both initiates advice and responds to requests for information. In recent years, advice has addressed the conservation and management of Antarctica. Scientific advice related to climate change and its impacts has received increasing attention. SCAR works with other advisory bodies within the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS) to increase efficiency and ensure the widest possible consultation, drawing on the best available expertise during the advisory process. SCAR provides scientific advice to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the UN Framework Convention on Environmental Change and other bodies on the role of Antarctica in global climate change.
Guiding Questions
- Is SCAR's advisory role given adequate attention in respect of its scientific mission and what should this balance be?
- Are adequate resources being allocated given the importance of SCAR's advisory role?
- Is SC-ATS structured to accomplish the wished for outcomes (including membership), what changes if any should we consider?
- Is the balance between responding to requests for advice properly balanced with SCAR's role of advancing emerging issues?
- Are there additional mechanisms or processes that could be implemented to enhance the advisory role and what are they?
- What it the advisory role of SCAR beyond the ATS and how does SCAR best influence and have impact on other venues to achieve greatest impact (IPCC, UNFCCC, etc.)?
Partnerships - Collaboration, sharing and access are the fundamental building blocks of scientific progress as described in ICSU's core principle of the Universality of Science. SCAR values its partnerships with advisory bodies in the Antarctic Treaty System, organizations with a polar mission, and global programs with polar interests. SCAR sees partnerships and cooperation as an important leverage of limited resources for causes shared with others. In pursuit of its vision and mission, SCAR often forms partnerships as the best and most efficient means to achieve its goals and objectives. SCAR's partners can be categorized as ICSU bodies, participants in the Antarctic Treaty System, organizations with a polar focus, and organizations with a polar interest. The International Council of Science (ICSU) is SCAR's parent organization and SCAR enthusiastically supports the vision, mission, and goals of ICSU. SCAR seeks to ensure that polar issues are on the agenda of the ICSU Board and General Assembly and that ICSU unions are engaged in SCAR activities.
Guiding Questions:
- How does SCAR more effectively engage ICSU and its other subsidiary bodies (i.e. Unions) and ensure polar science is a more explicit and important aspect of ICSU's agenda?
- How close should SCAR's partnerships with other ATS advisory bodies be and what level of consultation is warranted for SCAR actions?
- Are there other partners that we should consider engaging?
- Are there other actions we should take to enhance existing partnerships and solicit new ones?
Data and Information Management - SCAR facilitates free and unrestricted access to Antarctic scientific data and information by promoting open and accessible archiving of data and information. SCAR serves as a portal to data repositories of Antarctic scientific data and information. Data and information are valuable and irreplaceable resources. In the pursuit of many scientific objectives it is necessary to use data and information collected by scientists from many countries. SCAR recognizes the critical and essential importance of the stewardship of data and information within national and international programs and its accessibility to all.
Guiding Questions:
- Given that SCAR is not, nor should it be, a data management organization, how do we best encourage open and free access to data?
- Is SCAR adequately serving as a window onto Antarctic science and the associated data holdings, if not how can this be improved?
- Are SCADM and SCAGI effectively structured (including membership) to accomplish SCAR goals for data sharing, how to we improve participation?
- How does SCAR more effectively engage National Programs and scientists that are the repositories of most data?
- As data issues are universal in science, how do we best have impact and how do we effectively engage with ICSU and others in its efforts in this area?
Other updates of importance. The complete science program should be available for Buenos Aires shortly, please regularly check at the conference website for the latest updates. Once again these planning efforts raise many questions about how to manage what is becoming a major event and time consuming activity for SCAR while reducing the risk of failure. Issues to be discussed in August regarding the biennial meetings include partnership and increased management of meetings by the Secretariat; the implications of this for Secretariat work loads and resources, which are exceeding capacity; is a two-year cycle for the Conferences optimum; a ten-year plan for all SCAR science meetings and activities; and the increasing costs of holding such large meeting limiting potential host nations, to name a few. This is a critical issue that we must strategically deal with as we plan SCAR's future.
Chuck Kennicutt
President of SCAR
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