Lessons learned from the co-production of climate services in India, Tanzania and Peru: climate capacity building the EPICC way

EPICC (East Africa Peru India Climate Capacities) is a large interdisciplinary project on the co-production of user-oriented climate services in India, Peru and Tanzania, executed by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). It focuses on regional climate and hydrological systems and their interactions with agricultural livelihoods, human migration and security. To bridge the gap between research and its application at various levels of political decision-making or in the private sector, climates services are identified and co-produced with local partners and stakeholders and tailored to their respective needs and priorities.

Capacity building and knowledge transfer are fundamental components of EPICC, with the aim to strengthen resilience against climate impacts. Actions include workshops, seminars and trainings in the partner countries, guest stays at PIK and, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, more and more virtual events. The presentation builds on a rich portfolio of experiences and lessons learned throughout the first project phase (4 years), including an overview of how the team adapted to the new realities in international stakeholder exchange during the pandemic and the challenges that came along with this. The presentation also discusses cultural differences in communication and collaboration the project team has experienced.

As a practical example, the visualization of climate information for Peru, Tanzania and India on the web portal ClimateImpactsOnline / KlimafolgenOnline is presented. Visualization is considered to be a key technology for analysing and communicating climate information in a user-friendly, interactive and accessible way. As a first step, the needs of different types of users of climate information had to be identified, leading to tailor-made visualization solutions for both historic and future climate and climate impacts as well as current year weather conditions compared to historic climatology. In test sessions, the applicability of the visualized information was tested with local experts and feedback was integrated into the visualization portal. The presenters will share the challenges they had to face during the process and how they envision a sustainable use of project results.

The EPICC project is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI: www.international-climate-initiative.com). The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) supports this initiative on the basis of a decision adopted by the German Bundestag. The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) is leading the execution of the project together with its project partners, the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and the Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD).