Andrea Rossa, MeteoSwiss, Switzerland
Ongoing changes in climate patterns are expected to put further strain on livelihoods in climate-vulnerable regions hindering global efforts for boosting poverty reduction, food security and the reduction of environmental liabilities as stipulated in the Agenda 2030.
Improved availability of and access to climate services for vulnerable populations is a key component for increasing climate resilience. Still existing traditional indicators based on indigenous knowledge become less reliable for agricultural decision-making practices. Climate services represent an essential instrument for adaptation as they provide end-users with information and predictions, which decrease the risk of weather and climate-related disasters and therefore improve the overall efficiency of the decision-making process.
The ongoing improvement of climate models driven by evolving computer capacity and progress in natural science should lead to the complementation of traditional knowledge with accurate science-based climate information for improved farmer’s decision making towards more climate-resilient and sustainable agricultural production.
Improving the provision of climate services is imperative for tapping into the high potential benefits they hold for poor and climate vulnerable regions. Current practices of climate service provision, where available, often fail to provide the climate information in a way that is meaningful to end-users and does, therefore, not enable them to take appropriate action. The process of making climate information useful for end-users, in particular for smallholder farmers in developing countries, remains a considerable challenge due to existing cognitive, cultural and institutional constraints.
In order to overcome these key constraints and enable the added value of the climate information for the concerned populations, it is indispensable to bridge the gap between the provider of the information and the users. In this spirit, the implementation of climate services needs to be tailored to the different vulnerable groups by taking their specific livelihood features into account through evidence-based planning. Transdisciplinary collaborations based on combining knowledge from natural and social science and traditional ecological knowledge (TEC) are required to inform decision-makers at different levels of the implementation process in order to improve the interface between climate service provision and utilization.
In this interactive session, four presenters will briefly present their innovative scientific approaches case studies, projects experiences focusing on at least one of the following four topics:
(1) The implementation of climate services and strengthening its use in a development context
(2) The development of user-tailored climate information / communication, dissemination strategies
(3) Assessments of the socio-economic value of climate information and/ climate related vulnerabilities of population in a development context
(4) Explore the epistemological grounds and practical implications on which the transdisciplinary integration of scientific and traditional ecological knowledge can best support the development of user-tailored climate services
This part will be followed by a roundtable discussion with max. 7 additional experts. The additional experts react on the presentations. Interaction with the audience will constitute the last part of the session.