Reflections on a key component of co-producing climate services: Defining climate metrics from user needs

Vincent, Katharine; Archer, Emma; Henriksson, Rebecka; Pardoe, Joanna; Mittal, Neha

doi:10.1016/j.cliser.2020.100204

Cited by 15 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…As such, knowledge co-production often brings user engagement and knowledge mobilization together into a single process where the distinction between producers and users of knowledge becomes blurred (Pohl et al, 2010). However, empirical evidence on how this process of co-production is undertaken in practice, or agreement on how to best gauge its impacts remains scarce (Jagannathan et al, 2020;Mach et al, 2020;Vincent et al, 2020a). As a consequence of this ambiguity, argue Mach et al (2020, p. 31), co-production persists as an "idealized, yet also diversely and imprecisely defined concept that inevitably falls short of meeting its own standards, " and risks crowding out other forms of interactive science methods and practices.…”

Section: Evolutions In Climate Information Use In Sub-saharan Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

Mobilizing Climate Information for Decision-Making in Africa: Contrasting User-Centered and Knowledge-Centered Approaches

et al. 2021

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This study examined ways in which climate information was mobilized for use under Future Climate for Africa (FCFA), an applied research program to improve the use of climate information to support medium-term (5–40 years) policies and planning in sub-Saharan Africa. Past research has underscored the interdependent relationship between user engagement and knowledge mobilization in effective climate knowledge uptake. The study used a document analysis of 46 program ou tputs and semi-structured interviews with 13 FCFA researchers to contrast user-centered and knowledge-centered approaches to effectively mobilize climate information uptake for use. A total of 20 knowledge mobilization tools and approaches were identified across the program and analyzed. This analysis reveals a complex interplay between user engagement and knowledge mobilization processes, including the strategic or flexible use and re-use of knowledge products as the user engagement process evolved. These findings have important implications for future programmatic design and planning in promoting engagement and mobilization approaches that can contribute to long-term policy and decision-making.

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Section: Evolutions In Climate Information Use In Sub-saharan Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

Mobilizing Climate Information for Decision-Making in Africa: Contrasting User-Centered and Knowledge-Centered Approaches

et al. 2021

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“…To ensure usefulness, usability, and actual use of climate information, intentional investments need to be made in the translation of this information for a wide array of users and sectors, in communication systems and strategies for sharing this information for different audiences, and in capacity building approaches promoting awareness and understanding of the information itself (Christel et al, 2018;Vincent et al, 2020) And, perhaps most importantly, norms, policies, programs, and practices need to be established to ensure an ongoing, iterative dialogue-also known as "coproduction"-between those who ultimately produce climate information products and those whom it is intended to serve (Meadow et al, 2015;Kruk et al, 2017;Vincent et al, 2018Vincent et al, , 2020Conway and Vincent, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

ENACTS: Advancing Climate Services Across Africa

Dinku¹,

Faniriantsoa²,

Cousin³

et al. 2022

Front. Clim.

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Despite recent and mostly global efforts to promote climate services in developing countries, Africa still faces significant limitations in its institutional infrastructure and capacity to develop, access, and use decision-relevant climate data and information products at multiple levels of governance. The Enhancing National Climate Services (ENACTS) initiative, led by Columbia University's International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), strives to overcome these challenges by co-developing tailored, actionable, and decision-relevant climate information with and for a wide variety of users at the local, regional, and national levels. This is accomplished through an approach emphasizing direct engagement with the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHS) and users of their products, and investments in both technological and human capacities for improving the availability, access, and use of quality climate data and information products at decision-relevant spatial and temporal scales. In doing so, the ENACTS approach has been shown to be an effective means of transforming decision-making surrounding vulnerabilities and risks at multiple scales, through implementation in over a dozen countries at national level as well as at the regional levels in both East and West Africa. Through the ENACTS approach, challenges to availability of climate data are alleviated by combining quality-controlled station observations with global proxies to generate spatially and temporally complete climate datasets. Access to climate information is enhanced by developing an online mapping service that provides a user-friendly interface for analyzing and visualizing climate information products. Use of the generated climate data and the derived information products is promoted through raising awareness in relevant communities, training users, and co-production processes.

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“…knowledge co-production through iterative interactions and capacity building that bridge existing gaps between the scientists and end-users (Vincent et al, 2020a, Kruk et al, 2017. A joint coproduction effort confirms the construction of actionable knowledge (Mach et al, 2020, Sarku et al, 2020b, Ofoegbu and New, 2021, Hegger and Dieperink, 2014, Vedeld et al, 2019.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 79%

“…There is an increasing demand for co-producing climate information services (CIS) for smallholders in developing countries (Gbangou et al, 2020a, Kolstad et al, 2019, Hewitt et al, 2020, Turnhout et al, 2020, Vincent et al, 2020a. As in other developing countries, there is a need for short, medium, and long-range CIS for Bangladeshi smallholders (Islam et al, 2013, DAE, 2018b.…”

Section: Co-producing Climate Information Service With Smallholder Farmersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A joint coproduction effort confirms the construction of actionable knowledge (Mach et al, 2020, Sarku et al, 2020b, Ofoegbu and New, 2021, Hegger and Dieperink, 2014, Vedeld et al, 2019. However, the existing co-production efforts narrowly addressed the existing gaps between producers' and end-users perspectives (Vincent et al, 2020a, Bremer et al, 2019. As a result, most of the information services to date have been failed to establish the potential benefits of co-production with usefulness and usability of information services (Bremer et al, 2019, Lemos and Morehouse, 2005.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Bridging science and society : Tailor-made hydroclimatic information service with farmers in Lower Bengal Delta, Bangladesh

Kumar¹

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The farming communities living in the Lower Bengal Delta, Bangladesh are vulnerable to hydroclimatic variability. Farming decisions are becoming risky due to unpredictable weather patterns. The southwest region of Bangladesh, located in the heart of the Lower Bengal Delta, is known as an ecologically rich and productive agriculture zone. At the same time, smallholder farming communities are confronted with recurrent hydroclimatic events such as cyclones, storm surges, tidal flooding, and salinity intrusion among others. These events severely affect the agricultural income, livelihood, and food security of farming communities. Improved management of these hydroclimate risks is necessary to improve the livelihood and food security of the smallholders. Hydroclimate information services and technology hold the potential to help smallholders to manage hydroclimatic risks through informed agricultural decision-making. However, there is a scientific challenge for developing services and bridges between the available model-based forecasts and the local context and capabilities. The central question is how hydroclimatic information services can be tailored in ways that local farmers find useful in decision-making processes for their crops and livelihood activities. Another transdisciplinary challenge is balancing information service providers and end-users, integrating social science and climate science perspectives. Understanding end-user needs and capacity, local knowledge institutions, and policy are also fundamental challenges for the co-production of services for sectoral end-users and improving the value of forecasts information. There is a need for timely, accurate, and effective hydroclimatic information services mechanisms. The existing information services are largely developed from a top-down perspective. A bottom-up approach, shaped by users' requirements, engagement and capacity building has not been attempted yet. In this dissertation, I aim to co-produce hydroclimatic information services with smallholder farmers in the lower Bengal Delta in Khulna, Bangladesh. A mixed-methods transdisciplinary research approach was applied to study current knowledge gaps that exist regarding (i) farmers' practices and the role of available information, (ii) hydroclimatic information needs of smallholders, (iii) co-production of information services with and for smallholder farmers, and (iv) willingness to pay for location-and time-specific climate information services for wider uptake, improved agricultural practices, and service sustainability. This study confirms that there is a potential for need-based tailored information services for smallholders. However, farmers' information needs assessment is not a single-step process. This requires iterative interaction and capacity building. The coproduction study shows that hydroclimate information services through actors' collaboration, capacity building of farmers, and extension officers at farmer field school lead to better understanding, accessibility, and uptake of weather...

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Reflections on a key component of co-producing climate services: Defining climate metrics from user needs

Cited by 15 publications

References 46 publications

Mobilizing Climate Information for Decision-Making in Africa: Contrasting User-Centered and Knowledge-Centered Approaches

Mobilizing Climate Information for Decision-Making in Africa: Contrasting User-Centered and Knowledge-Centered Approaches

ENACTS: Advancing Climate Services Across Africa

Bridging science and society : Tailor-made hydroclimatic information service with farmers in Lower Bengal Delta, Bangladesh

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