Climate Exchange

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ommunities

national meteorological agencies, but which easily could be. Discussion

within the exchange inKenya highlighted the potential for KMD to access

the Ensemble Prediction System, a graphical representation of forecast

distributions of rain out to ten days, which could support improved infor-

mation on dry spells within the season.

The exchange has also identified opportunities for user information

needs to be addressed within ongoing and future research. Colleagues

from both the Senegal and Kenya Meteorological Services undertaking

fellowships within the Climate Science Research Partnership, a joint initia-

tive by theUKDepartment for International Development and theUKMet

Office, are, within their ongoing research, considering the performance of

rainwithin the season and so approaching the community-identified need

for better information on dry periods within the rainy season.

Building capacities

The exchange is based on identifying the complementary competencies

across the broad range of actors required to ensure that climate science

is able to better support community resilience. The approach seeks to

strengthen the capacities of all partners. It is as much about strengthening

climate scientists’ and meteorologists’ understanding of the information

needs of climate-vulnerable users as it is about strengthening users’ access

to, understanding of and appropriate application of climate information.

There is a wide range of understanding of weather and climate

information amongst humanitarian and development policymakers inter-

viewed and consulted during the course of developing this exchange.

Organizations have adopted a variety of processes, with varying levels

of success, for enabling their policies, projects and programmes to be

informed by climate science. Among the processes employed are:

• Development of new posts

• Hiring of specific climate science expertise

• Reliance on intermediary organizations and consultants

• Use of summarymaterials designed for non-specialists and policymakers.

For many policymakers and community users, exchange activities have

offered their first opportunity for direct discussion between meteorol-

ogists and climate scientists. The exchange has sought to address the

following constraints:

• Developing approaches which support effective communication to

non-specialist and community users of the levels of confidence and

uncertainties within weather and climate information at different

geographic and temporal scales

• Current lack of space for systematic dialogue between the providers

and users of climate information at community, district, national,

regional and international levels

• Contextualization of weather and climate information within the

complex decision-making processes involved in strengthening the

resilience of communities living in multi-hazard environments.

The exchange has identified the need to afford the resources and strengthen

capacity for national meteorological agencies to fully realise their

commitment to the mandate of providing climate information to at-risk

communities and the humanitarian, disaster risk reduction and devel-

opment bodies which seek to support these communities. Interestingly,

the exchange has identified that for some national meteorological agen-

cies, the constraints to better supporting users’ climate information needs

are less an issue of human resource capacities than of the logistical and

financial resources required for national outreach. Equally, while similar

efforts to strengthen the use of weather and climate information have often

highlighted the impossibility of enabling direct access to climate science

expertise for thewide range of users demanding their services,

the exchange has identified a tremendous wealth of exper-

tise available both nationally and internationally, which is at

present underused and which is very open to the creation of

channels tomore directly support users’ climate information

needs. Furthermore, while there are many complementary

pilot initiatives to strengthen effective use of climate informa-

tion within at-risk communities, there remains insufficient

opportunity topool, sustain and scale up learning fromacross

these initiatives.

Ongoing collaboration among exchange partners over a

period of years has also created a network of trust and an

emerging community of practice amongst those who are

keen to develop approaches which strengthen effective

dialogue between the providers and users of science. In 2010

HFP initiated a climate science humanitarian policyworking

group. Although principally based in the UK, this group has

been informed by dialogue initiatives underway internation-

ally. Hosted by a revolving series of institutions engaged in

efforts to promote better use of climate science, longer-term

coordination of the group has now been taken on by Dr Ros

Cornforth of Reading University, and supported by AfClix,

the web portal of the Africa Climate Exchange Project.

Future developments and challenges

National and international partners are keen to secure the

financial support required to extend the national reach of

the exchange approach in both Senegal and Kenya, with

the intention of creating a framework for systematic and

sustained dialogue between the providers and users of

climate information. The aim is also to develop the inte-

grated climate services required to support communities

living in multi-hazard environments; and to identify chan-

nels to develop and share learning about those forms of

dialogue which are most effective in supporting appropri-

ate use of climate information within different levels of

decision-making.

The current state of dialogue between the providers

and users of climate science

All participants in the demonstration studies in Kenya and

Senegal were given questionnaires, to enable the development

of a baseline of the current state of dialogue between community

users, humanitarian and development policymakers and climate

scientists. Their responses revealed that:

• All participating climate scientists, community decision makers

and humanitarian and development policymakers agreed on

the need for increased dialogue, and considered that this would

strengthen their respective work

• The principal channels and formats through which climate

information is currently disseminated are not readily accessible to

community users

• The majority of community users and humanitarian policymakers

said that climate information was increasingly important for their

decision making

• Climate scientists in Kenya think that community organisations

and national NGOs understand climate information less well than

national, regional and international agencies and international NGOs

• All participating climate scientists said that greater dialogue with

users would lead them to target their work to better support their

specific climate information needs.