Delivering Climate Services: Organizational Strategies and Approaches for Producing Useful Climate-Science Information

Abstract

Despite numerous and widespread calls for more ''useful'' climate-science information to inform policy, most climate science is still produced in a way that is consistent with the ''linear model'' of research that favors pure basic research over other approaches, resulting in missed opportunities to link useful climate science with decision makers. To improve the ability to adapt to a changing climate, it is necessary to improve the linkages between the production and supply of climate-science information with users' needs to ensure that the climate science is contextual, credible, trusted, and understood by the users. This paper reports on research that evaluated how three Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (RISA) programs produced useful climate information for improved decision support in a variety of sectors. Research indicates that these organizations utilized several processes and approaches to produce useful climate information, including identifying users' information needs; translating, communicating, and sharing knowledge; producing and situating social capital; building capacity in the user community to understand and utilize the climate-science information; and maintaining a flexible and nimble organization guided by strong leadership. The process of linking the production and supply of climate-science information with users' demands is a complex, highly contextual social process that requires ample resources and time management, research agendas that are ''end to end'' and can respond to changing contexts, and organizational commitment to support ''use-inspired'' research. Additional research is needed to improve evaluation methods and metrics used to assess climateservice organizations.

Northwest U.S. Agriculture in a Changing Climate: Collaboratively Defined Research and Extension Priorities

“…Developers of climate change-related DSS should consider collaborating with providers of traditional DSS that producers already know and use. There is value in providing users with climate change-related information at online locations where they already go for decision support, such as pest management DSS (McNie, 2012;Kirchhoff et al, 2013). Integrating climate change-related DSS with other agricultural DSS creates opportunities to engage users who may not seek out climate change-related tools on their own, or who are skeptical about climate change (Feldman and Ingram, 2009;Akerlof et al, 2012).…”

“…Agricultural producers must make resource management and investment decisions on the basis of highly complex and uncertain information from multiple sources. Thus, it is difficult to assess what information will be most relevant and useful to producers (Lemos et al, 2012;McNie, 2012;Weaver et al, 2013).…”

Risk management perspective for climate service development – Results from a study on Finnish organizations

“…Kirchhoff et al, 2013;Pilli-Sihvola et al, 2014;Soares and Dessai, 2016). Typically deeper co-operation with suppliers and users and demand-or user-driven approaches (McNie, 2013;Lourenço et al, 2015;McGregor, 2015) are suggested as measures to address these challenges of the production and use of climate information.…”

Sharing Skills and Needs between Providers and Users of Climate Information to Create Climate Services: Lessons from the Northern Adriatic Case Study

“…To address the needs of disaster relief organizations and national decision-makers, climate scientists have started providing climate information, including (among others) forecasts for the coming season, short-term and long-term projections, and environmental monitoring to reduce risks and impacts of climate on society (Vaughan and Dessai, 2014). Some examples are the World Climate Data and Monitoring Programme (WCDMP) of the WMO 1 means designing a two-way communication, so that mutual learning occurs: on the one hand, end-users will have the opportunity to discuss about their mandate while learning about how the use of climate services could improve their work, thus end-users' information needs will be assessed; on the other, climate scientists will learn how to communicate their research outcomes, so that end-users will be able to integrate this information in their decision making system (McNie, 2013).…”

“…Climate research, in fact, can address specific needs arising from users, for example, the increase in climate knowledge and the improvement of its applicability can help us decrease impacts and risks associated with climate variability and change (Lyon et al, 2014). Forecasts of climate events, which are based on the understanding of the physical mechanisms, could, therefore, be used for decision making and prevention, if the consequences on the environment and on society are investigated, as is proven by interdisciplinary research stemming from climate research on the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, and its impacts on society: a transformation is in progress, which will bring change in institutions and in the way they act (Zebiak et al, 2014 hand, end-users will have the opportunity to discuss about their mandate while learning about how the use of climate services could improve their work, thus end-users' information needs will be assessed; on the other, climate scientists will learn how to communicate their research outcomes, so that end-users will be able to integrate this information in their decision making system (McNie, 2013).Two aspects need to be taken into account: (1) improving models, e.g. increasing predictive skill and reducing uncertainty, and (2) understanding end-users' needs, which could drive climate research.…”