Enabling Climate Science Use to Better Support Resilience and Adaptation Practice

This report summarizes expert analysis and key findings from climate science information provision. The authors focus on the “Valley of Death” that exists between providers and users of such information.

The report serves as a scoping study to provide evidence and innovation sought to “climate-inform” UK government investments. It addresses questions about processes that can enable climate science to better support resilience and adaptation practice, and those can achieve internationally agreed commitments.

The authors conducted a rapid evidence assessment, supported by expert consultation and key informant interviews. The geographic focus is Africa, with a light touch approach applied to South Asia and the Pacific. The assessment examines current research activities and priorities in the science-to-application chain, with the authors concluding that “…in practice the reality of this chain is questionable.”

The report was commissioned by the UK Department for International Development (now the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office) to inform a new CLimate And REsilience (CLARE) framework programme.

The report was undertaken by LTS International Ltd., with a dozen authors making contributions. SEI co-authors of the report include Sukaina Bharwani and Richard Taylor, both senior research fellows at SEI-Oxford, and Ruth Butterfield, senior research fellow and director of SEI-Oxford.