A climate knowledges approach to climate services

Clifford, Katherine R.; Travis, William R.; Nordgren, Luke T.

doi:10.1016/j.cliser.2020.100155

Cited by 22 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Legitimacy denotes the fairness of the process from a "political and procedural" perspective-that is, that all relevant stakeholders were consulted and that the knowledge is perceived as unbiased Norström et al, 2020). Saliency generally denotes the relevance to user needs (Clifford et al, 2020;Norström et al, 2020). Two other terms describe closely related criteria: usefulness-whether the knowledge and information are provided at temporal and spatial scales that match users' practices and needs-and usability-whether users can actually access and use the information as it was provided (e.g., online or on paper, in English or in the local language, in complex scientific terms or simple wording) (Lemos and Morehouse, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the Quality of Knowledge for Adaptation–Experiences From Co-designing Climate Services in Sweden

et al. 2021

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Adaptation to climate change is becoming more urgent, but the wealth of knowledge that informs adaptation planning and decision-making is not used to its full potential. Top-down approaches to knowledge production are identified as one important reason for the gap between science and practice and are criticized for not meeting the needs of intended users. In response to this challenge, there is a growing interest in the creation of user-oriented and actionable climate services to support adaptation. At the same time, recent research suggests that greater efforts are needed to evaluate the effectiveness of knowledge co-production processes and the best criteria by which to gauge the quality of knowledge outcomes, while also considering different stakeholder perspectives. This paper explores these issues through a critical assessment of the quality of knowledge for adaptation generated from a climate services co-design process in two case studies in Sweden. The study draws on experiences from a 5-year research collaboration in which natural and social science researchers, together with local stakeholders, co-designed climate services to support climate adaptation planning and decision-making. The well-established knowledge quality criteria of credibility, legitimacy, saliency, usability, and usefulness remain relevant, but are not sufficient to capture factors relating to whether and how the knowledge actually is applied by climate change adaptation planners and decision-makers. We observe that case-specific circumstances beyond the scope of the co-design process, including the decision-making context as well as non-tangible outcomes, also play crucial roles that should be accounted for in the knowledge assessment processes.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the Quality of Knowledge for Adaptation–Experiences From Co-designing Climate Services in Sweden

et al. 2021

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“…In the existing services, misalignment exists between information needs and information that is being provided to the intended end-users [40]. Literature suggests that a typical user survey is not enough to understand climate impacts and sensitivities in a region and to resolve mismatches between climate science products and user needs [41]. Here, user needs are defined as the hydrological and meteorological parameters that are important to farmers for agricultural decision-making.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydroclimatic Information Needs of Smallholder Farmers in the Lower Bengal Delta, Bangladesh

et al. 2020

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Hydroclimatic information services are vital for sustainable agricultural practices in deltas. They advance adaptation practices of farmers that lead to better economic benefit through increased yields, reduced production costs, and minimized crop damage. This research explores the hydroclimatic information needs of farmers by addressing (1) what kind of information is needed by the periurban delta farmers, and (2) whether information needs have any temporal dimension that changes with time following capacity building during coproduction of information services. Results reveal that the attributes of weather and water-related forecasts most affecting the farmers are rainfall, temperature, water, and soil salinity, along with extreme events such as cyclone and storm surges. The majority of the male farmers prefer one- to two-week lead-time forecasts for strategic and tactical decision-making; while female farmers prefer short-time forecasts with one-day to a week lead time that suggests the difference of purpose of the forecasts between male and female farmers. Contrarily, there is little preference for monthly, seasonal, and real-time forecasts. Information communication through a smartphone app is preferred mostly because of its easy accessibility and visualization. Farmers foresee that capacity building on acquiring hydroclimatic information is vital for agricultural decision-making. We conclude that a demand-driven coproduction of a hydroclimatic information service created through iterative interaction with and for farmers will enable the farmers to understand their information needs more explicitly.

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“…Recent research has shown, unsurprisingly, that the way stakeholders need and use climate information varies over regions and sectors [28]. This can pose a challenge in the development of climate services of global scale.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Designing a Climate Service for Planning Climate Actions in Vulnerable Countries

et al. 2021

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The next generation of climate services needs not only tailoring to specific user needs but to provide, in addition, access to key information in a usable way that satisfies the needs of different users’ profiles; especially web-based services. Here, we present the outcomes from developing such a new interactive prototype. The service provides data for robust climate analysis to underpin decision-making when planning measures to compensate for climate impact. The goal is to facilitate the communication on climate information between climate modelling communities and adaptation or mitigation initiatives from vulnerable countries that are applying for funds from the Green Climate Fund (GCF). A participatory process was ensured during four workshops in four pilot countries, with an audience of national and international experts. During this process it was made clear that in all countries there is a strong need for knowledge in climate science, while in most countries there was also an increasing need of capacity in hydrological modelling and water management. The active interaction during the workshops was found necessary to facilitate the dialogue between service developers and users. Understanding the users, transparency on potentials and limitations of climate services together with capacity development in climate science and methods were required components in the development of the service.

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A climate knowledges approach to climate services

Cited by 22 publications

References 41 publications

Assessing the Quality of Knowledge for Adaptation–Experiences From Co-designing Climate Services in Sweden

Assessing the Quality of Knowledge for Adaptation–Experiences From Co-designing Climate Services in Sweden

Hydroclimatic Information Needs of Smallholder Farmers in the Lower Bengal Delta, Bangladesh

Designing a Climate Service for Planning Climate Actions in Vulnerable Countries

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