Stories of change from CDKN: How is climate information being factored into long-term decision-making in Africa?
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Stories of change from CDKN: How is climate information being factored into long-term decision-making in Africa?
There is growing interest about how climate information can be used to better inform decision-making across a range of sectors and socio-political and environmental settings. To investigate this across sub- Saharan Africa, the Department for International Development (DFID) through the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) commissioned four pilot case studies in different countries to elicit the current and potential future use of weather and climate information in policy and planning. This report presents the findings from the Malawi case study that focused on national level policies, policy makers and decision making processes.
The report addresses the need to to review the medium- and long-term decision-making process and institutional framework at the national level in Malawi across social protection, food security and disaster risk management sectors; to highlight the existing use of weather and climate information in Malawian policy-making; to identify the potential application of weather and climate information in Malawi’s national planning and decision-making, taking into account the science that is currently available, as well as a “wish list” to direct scientific development; and to assess how this pilot project’s findings support other ongoing initiatives in Malawi, namely the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) development, and the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) project to improve the quality and quantity of climate services.
There is growing interest about how climate information can be used to better inform decision-making across a range of sectors and socio-political and environmental settings. To investigate this across sub-Saharan Africa, the Department for International Development (DFID) through the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) commissioned four pilot case studies in different countries to elicit the current and potential future use of weather and climate information in policy and planning.
This report presents the findings from the Malawi case study that focused on national level policies, policy makers and decision making processes. The study was led by Kulima Integrated Development Solutions and the University of Leeds. To ensure complementarity with ongoing country processes around mainstreaming climate–resilient development, this report focuses on three cross- cutting sectors of social protection, food security and disaster risk management.
As a precursor to the Future Climate for Africa (FCFA) research activities, CDKN, on behalf of DFID commissioned a series of case study activities with the purposes of exploring the climate science needs of decision makers in Africa. The report focuses on the findings in Ghana.
Support for climate related decision-making in Ghana mostly takes the form of reports or policy documents such as the EPA National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy (UNEP/UNDP), the NADMO Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation (DRR&CCA) plan (UNDP/UNISAR) and the UNDP country profiles.
The proposed case study rested strongly on the “co-exploration” model of engagement. The primary concept of co-exploration is that the decision-making process is complex and progresses through different stages. Different climate information is required at different stages and the nature of this information is not known beforehand, rather it emerges through the decision process. The process therefore requires the continual engagement of climate scientists and decision makers as the decision is explored, hence the term “co-exploration”.
To help guide the FCFA programme, the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) was commissioned by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) to undertake a scoping phase.
The focus of the FCFA is to advance scientific knowledge, understanding and prediction of African climate variability and change on five to 40 year timescales, together with support for integration of science into longer-term decision making leading to improved climate risk management and the protection of lives and livelihoods.
The paper investigates the current and potential use of long-term climate information for decision making for hydropower schemes in sub-Saharan Africa. Hydropower schemes are long-lived infrastructure. These are pieces of infrastructure that usually can be maintained for a significantly greater number of years than most other capital assets.
The main aim of the Coordination Capacity building and Knowledge Exchange (CCKE) Unit is to create enabling environments that will help to ensure that improved scientific understanding and prediction of African climate variability and change leads to improved decision-making when coupled with strengthened user knowledge, skills and tailored climate products.
As a precursor to the Future Climate for Africa (FCFA) research activities, CDKN, on behalf of DFID commissioned a series of case study activities with the purposes of exploring the climate science needs of decision makers in Africa. The intention was for the learning gained through these pilot case studies to inform the design and implementation of the broader FCFA research activities over the coming years.
The overarching aim of the case studies was to
The proposed case study rested strongly on the “co-exploration” model of engagement. The primary concept of co-exploration is that the decision-making process is complex and progresses through different stages. Different climate information is required at different stages and the nature of this information is not known beforehand, rather it emerges through the decision process. The process therefore requires the continual engagement of climate scientists and decision makers as the decision is explored, hence the term “co-exploration”. As will emerge through the results of the case study below, the co-exploration approach is diametrically opposite to the dominant approach practised in most real world decision-making contexts.
This report describes the outcomes and activities of the case study, including the desktop study, the initial participant engagements, and the workshop activities itself. It draws out key learning messages that address the guiding questions posed by DFID and CDKN as well as identifying discrete learning points gained from implementation.
The paper reviews the scope of weather and climate information available for Malawi, taking into account both southern African and international sources of information. It also provides an overview of Malawi’s current climate, nature of recent observed changes, and projected future changes based on a combination of Global Climate Model (GCM) ensembles (under the Representative Concentration Pathways, RCP, scenarios) as cited in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth
The paper has outlined the main sources of weather and forecast information in Malawi, ranging from short- to medium-term weather forecasts to longer term climate projections based on GCMs and two different methods of downscaling: statistical and dynamical. It has also summarised Malawi’s current climate and data availability from different sources, both within the country (the DCCMS), and outside (including CSAG and CSIR in South Africa; and various other institutions in Europe and the United States).
Ensuring that policy-makers are able to respond to the medium-and long-term implications of climate change is important in promoting climate-resilient development. Despite the inherent uncertainties that are associated with it, climate science can support planners in making informed decisions on future investments aimed at optimising the use of scarce resources available to developing country governments and subnational entities. Yet there is a lack of evidence for – and detailed understanding of – gaps in the uptake of science for long-term strategies for climate-resilient development, particularly for sub-Saharan Africa.
In helping to overcome these barriers, this report synthesises two inputs:
A review of articles and ‘grey’ (unpublished) literature on knowledge gaps and areas needed to support the capacity of African decision-makers
Two regional activities: a workshop in London that brought together UK- and Africa-based experts working on climate science and adaptation in Africa; and a side-event to the Africa Climate Change Conference 2013 in Arusha, Tanzania, that gathered together regional scientists and practitioners, and consolidated gaps and priority activities for enhancing the uptake of science in decision-making.
The report is compiled in the context of consultative exercises to identify key gaps in science and capacity to feed into the scoping phase of the Future Climate For Africa (FCFA) programme. This initiative seeks to with African stakeholders, use this science to inform long-term climate-resilient development strategies.
