Taking stock of the socio-economic benefits of weather and climate services in South Asia

The use of scientific information about future weather and climate offers enormous potential for society to better manage the risks associated with climate variability and change. There has been significant investment in weather and climate services (WCS) initiatives over the past years, however empirically based evidence of the socio-economic benefits that can be yield from such services is very limited. Furthermore, understanding and capturing the real benefits of WCS is key to ensure continue investment and funding of WCS as well as to enable adaptive management of such services. In this paper, we conduct a review of the literature of WCS evaluations in South Asia. We systematically document and analyse empirical evidence as reported in the academic and grey literature to highlight: (1) the scale and scope of WCS that have been evaluated in the region; (2) the methodological approaches that have been used to monitor and evaluate the benefits of WCS initiatives on the ground; and (3) the socio-economic benefits of WCS categorised under a triple bottom line approach that takes into consideration economic, social and environmental benefits of the WCS under analysis. The paper explores these findings and highlights key areas that warrant further discussion and research. These include, the disconnect between developing and implementing WCS and effectively capturing and recording the benefits that can be yield from WCS; the current emphasis on assessing and capturing economic benefits whilst social and environmental benefits are largely ignored and/or not accounted for; and the need for robust methodologies that enable adequate and holistic evaluations of the benefits that can be generated within the WCS and across the triple bottom line.