Engaging stakeholders for the co-creation of Climate Services. Beyond ERA4CS INDECIS project

INDECIS (Integrated approach for the development across Europe of user-oriented climate indicators for GFCS high-priority sectors: agriculture, disaster risk reduction, energy, health, water, and tourism) was a project part ERA4CS, an ERA-NET initiated by JPI Climate, and funded by FORMAS (SE), DLR (DE), BMWFW (AT), IFD (DK), MINECO (ES), ANR (FR) with co-funding by the European Union Grant 690462). INDECIS main produced different outcomes, such as software packages, improved datasets and a large number of scientific papers (see www.indecis.eu). 

 

Even though INDECIS formally ended in July 2021, the knowledge gained continues to pay off. This communication will synthetically show how we took advantage of the methodology for the engagement of stakeholders developed in INDECIS (Font et al. 2021). The co-creation methodology developed in the frame of INDECIS has served as a starting point for the development of further research, transfer, and empowerment actions of stakeholders for decision-making related to climate change in four main axes: in research, in leading international research and transfer projects in collaboration with industry, in local projects developed in partnership with industry, users and administration and, knowledge transference to high schools, bachelor degree and technical training to professionals. 

 

The research has continued through a doctoral dissertation based on co-creating a climate service for surfing (see Boqué Ciurana, 2022). It is also continued by developing more indices for tourism and tourism sites to face climate change effects through mitigation measures in the TURLIT-ODS project (see: http://turlit.eu). This project is a local scale project where with users, private actors, and administration, we try to define the optimal conditions to develop sport water activities in Calafell, Costa Daurada, Spain. 

 

With the industry, in collaboration with a private organization, we engage stakeholders in the infrastructure sector to co-define climate risk indices to manage risk and investments. In this project, through co-creation workshops developed with local agents from both the company (technical) and the administration and other sectorial actors, indices are being computed to assess the climate risk of mobility infrastructures (railways and highways). 

 

The co-creation methodology has been adapted to develop high school co-creation processes to empower young people with tools to fight climate change and misinformation (see EMPOCLIM project: http://www.empoclim.cat ). In the same way, the Geography, Sustainability, and Territorial Analysis bachelor at the Rovira i Virgili University, offers a subject (6 ECTS) to develop essential skills and competences for developing climate services based on the engagement of local stakeholders and co-creation. 

 

Last but not least. Updating the quality control and data homogenization software has allowed the development of training for NMHs in Colombia, Peru, and Chile in the frame of the ENANDES project. In this training, we added lectures and practices to capacity-building staff in co-creating climate services with local users.