Climate Sense

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isk

overnance

and

anagement

creation of a framework that allows global scale coordination and

sharing of resources toward improved climate risk management

practice. This is because the scope of the challenge is so enor-

mous that no entity, and indeed no country, can best address its

own challenges in isolation. All countries, particularly develop-

ing countries, can best meet their challenges by having a means

to access relevant global scale observations, state-of-the-art

global climate prediction (and assessment) products, climate and

environmental monitoring information, as well as accumulated

knowledge of effective climate risk management practices, tools,

and methodologies.

All of this could be provided through a suitably organized global

infrastructure. One such option is being proposed as an outcome of

the upcoming World Climate Conference-3. Whether implemented

through this process or not, such a global framework is needed to

seriously address the current climate challenge.

A great deal of attention is given, appropriately, to averting disas-

ters and coping with the potentially disastrous consequences of

climate extremes in developing countries. It is important to recog-

nize that the establishment of effective climate risk management

practices in developing countries offers not only improved ability

to cope with extreme events, but also the opportunity to take

advantage of favourable climate conditions. Strategies that allow

increased investment in agricultural inputs, or increased water allo-

cations during years with enhanced likelihood of plentiful rainfall,

for example, can readily translate into positive social and economic

outcomes. Thus there is much to be gained from establishing inte-

grated approaches to climate risk management that address the full

spectrum of risks and opportunities.

Experience to-date has led to the realization that to make a differ-

ence in operational decision and policy making, attention and effort

needs to be devoted to the interface of climate knowledge/informa-

tion and decision/policy making in key sectors. This work requires

significant and sustained engagement between scientific and tech-

nical experts, practitioners and policy makers; it is most effective

when undertaken in actual problem settings. Such work has been

effectively undertaken through boundary organizations, either inde-

pendently or as units embedded within sector-based organizations.

Regardless of the constructs chosen, a great deal more effort needs

to be invested at this interface to advance climate risk management

practice at the scale needed. To be effective, these efforts need to

be strongly science based, and must enable continuing climate risk

management research and innovation, demonstration, evaluation,

and knowledge sharing. Without this effort, the extensive ongoing

investments, and needed improvements, in climate observing

systems, monitoring, modelling, prediction, and assessment will not

translate into the improved practices that are desired and urgently

needed.

To address the scale of the challenge, there is a need to capture,

distil, and disseminate the accumulating knowledge of effective

climate risk management practices, together with the products that

derive from such knowledge. Each local, regional, or national effort

to advance climate risk management should benefit from the experi-

ence of all other relevant efforts including case studies, publications,

data streams and training resources, as well as specialized informa-

tion (including prediction) products and decision support tools.

Only through such a knowledge management effort can collective

global investments be tapped in servicing the needs of countless

communities that must act to better manage climate risk.

Another opportunity lies in developing the means

to coordinate efforts in evaluating the effectiveness of

information products and strategies – a process for

establishing, reviewing and updating good practices

both in technical as well as implementation aspects

of climate risk management practices. This would

naturally evolve as an element of a coordinated global

framework, but at any scale the importance of credible,

widely available information on good practices cannot

be overestimated.

Throughout the world, but particularly in developing

countries, the successful implementation of (sustain-

able) improved climate risk management practices

depends heavily on establishing awareness, and the

technical and institutional capacity to take up infor-

mation and employ it effectively. Addressing this will

require substantial support from capable institutions

committed to and resourced for capacity building and

training, ideally organized at some level as part of a

larger framework. In addition, looking toward the

future, the greatest opportunities for significant progress

in climate risk management rest with a community of

professionals throughout all relevant sectors of society

who are educated to be able to interpret climate infor-

mation and to apply it in their fields of practice. There

is an important role here for academic institutions in

developing the necessary educational curricula and

programmes.

One of the important lessons learned from work

to-date is that from the decision-making perspective,

managing climate is rarely just an issue of the present

season, and equally rarely just an issue of the longer-

term future. Rather, in most climate-sensitive policy,

planning and operational settings, particularly in

developing countries, there are significant concerns

with managing climate risks and opportunities across

a spectrum of timescales ranging from the present to

20-30 years ahead. The information available to support

risk management at the subseasonal, seasonal-to-inter-

annual, and decadal timescales differs substantially.

Nonetheless, efforts need to be made to address risk

assessments and management strategies in an integrated

manner, drawing on all available information, tailored

to the problem at hand.

Presently, IPCC projections cannot capture any

predictability associated with decadal climate vari-

ability, and at this stage are not expected to represent

the uncertainties associated with this variability

correctly. Although research is being devoted to this,

and needs to be accelerated, in the meantime the best

practices in longer-term risk assessment will need to

add information from analysis of historical climate

records to make the best possible risk assessments. A

time frame integrated strategy that addresses current

risks, assesses robustness with respect to best esti-

mates of longer-term risks, and adopts relevant

contingency planning – in effect, adaptable adapta-

tion – is the approach that holds the greatest promise

and utility in practice.