Program Structure

The CIMR Symposium will provide participants with a unique opportunity to collectively identify issues facing agriculture and natural resource managers related to climate variability and to define research, teaching and extension needs to address these issues. Thus the overall theme “Partnerships and Solutions for Agriculture and Natural Resources” will be developed throughout in plenary sessions, breakout groups, and poster sessions.

Plenary Sessions — Acknowledged experts from around the world will be invited to address the following topics.

• State of knowledge on climate variability and change at seasonal, decadal, and multi-decadal time scales

• Impacts of climate variability and climate change on agriculture and natural resources

• Stakeholder needs for climate information related to agriculture and natural resources

• Integrated approaches that combine research, extension, and education in the application of climate information

• Extension and application of climate information for agriculture and natural resources

• Short- and long-term needs and opportunities for education to ensure the effective use of climate information by decision makers

Breakout Sessions — Attendees will have the opportunity to participate in facilitated discussion groups on the following topics:

Topic 1: Identifying stakeholder needs for climate information

Topic 2: Setting priorities for integrated research programs

Topic 3: Extension and application of climate information

Topic 4: Curriculum development to improve climate literacy

Poster Session — A poster sessions is planned to further advance discussion on the above topics.

The symposium is designed to encourage a variety of interaction with Q&A, topical discussion periods and networking functions. Invited speaker abstracts and volunteer poster abstracts will be published on CD-ROM to be distributed at the meeting. Summaries of recommendations developed during the symposium will be posted on the website following the symposium.