Announcements
Announcements
This journal article reviews recent research on how climate information is brought to bear on key city development and urban management decisions in southern African cities. The focus is on case studies in Lusaka and Durban. The authors challenge the emphasis on co-producing decision-support tools, arguing instead for using such tools to pursue engagement and collaboration, and to help shift power dynamics of decision-making in the region.
Skyline of Durban, South Africa. Photo: wildacad / Getty Images.
For cities to develop in ways that are sustainable, climate resilient and equitable, considerations about climate change must factor into planning, investment and management decisions. Incorporating these considerations into city decision-making contexts requires having robust, actionable climate information. It also requires having capabilities and mechanisms to integrate the climate information into complex technical and political urban decision-making processes.
A growing number of co-production processes are underway in southern Africa. These efforts use decision-support tools, and create spaces for engagement and learning about how climate risk features in urban decision-making processes.
This paper reviews recent research on how climate information services can be brought to bear to improve key city development and urban management decisions in southern African cities. The authors argue that decentralization and devolution are needed for climate-sensitive decisions in cities, and that local governments and universities should build capacity to help set the stage for such change.
Initiative / This initiative brings together expertise in climate services to support planning and decision-making, with a focus on adaptation and disaster resilience.
Project / Future Resilience for African CiTies And Lands (FRACTAL) looks at climate processes driving southern Africa's climate variability and response to global change.
Feature / The SEI Initiative on Climate Services generated new insights about co-design and co-production proocesses to integrate climate science into adaptation policy.
Other publication / This working paper provides an overview of a proect to co-produce, communicate and share climate information for better climate adaptation in Windhoek, Namibia.
Tool / Tandem guidance is an interactive, online tool to help scientists and decision-makers collaborate to improve climate change adaptation planning and policies.
Design and development by Soapbox.
