Knowledge coproduction in climate services: European experiences and the Brazilian scenario evaluation

Abstract

In recent years, research on climate services has received considerable attention after the Global Framework for Climate Services/World Meteorological Organization (GFCS/WMO) implementation, which was established in the midst of international scientific discussions under the Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). In developed countries, the number of climate service providers in the public and private sectors has been increasing, in response to different demands at different spatial scales - local, national, regional and international. These services are developed with the purpose of subsidizing activities in different economical sectors (agriculture, transportation, energy etc.) as well as government areas for the implementation of weather and climate monitoring and warning systems, dedicated to disaster risk management (floods, mudslides, severe drought, hail showers, etc.). Despite the expansion of climate services, little is known about their effectiveness, how they are used in decision-making, or how institutional arrangements are structured and constituted for their full functioning, or even how they associate and fit into the formulation of public policy. It a similar way, climate services in Brazil have been implemented for decades as well as product and service development to meet governmental demands for risk monitoring and warning related to climate variability. However, there are few studies that describe, evaluate and analyze the operability of such systems. One of the highlights of this new research field is the level of participation and integration among actors involved in climate service definition and implementation. Emphasis has been placed on scientific knowledge production through collaborative networks - "coproduction" - in order to meet the different demands and needs of the various actors involved in climate service (social) construction. This perspective has been used in projects in Europe, such as EUPORIA (European Provision of Regional Impacts Assessments on Seasonal and Decadal Timescales) and ICAD (Informing Climate Adaptation Decisions), which focused on increasing the capacity of maximizing societal benefits through the use of new technology and knowledge associated with weather and climate forecasts and projections of climate change scenarios. This project aims to present and evaluate the state of the art of this new scientific discipline in Europe, while at the same time documenting the Brazilian experiences. It is expected that the project will allow the addition of new knowledge and perspective that can be used and applied to Brazilian research initiatives, such as that proposed by the international CLIMAX project, led by INPE and supported by FAPESP. (AU)