Co-developing a knowledge portal to support stakeholders in utilizing uncertain multi-model based information on freshwater-related hazards of climate change

Co-produced climate services are increasingly recognized as a means for effective generation and utilization of relevant climate information to support decision-makers in taking climate change into account in their risk portfolios. However, there is a structural lack of appropriate, tailored climate services and tools, particularly in developing countries. Among the challenges are (1) how to represent uncertainty quantitatively in a way that is both scientifically correct and utilizable to the diverse users of the hazard information and (2) how to integrate global information with quantified uncertainty into regional-scale assessments of water-related climate change risk and adaptation assessments in a participatory manner. In the CO-MICC project (ERA4CS), a knowledge portal is co-developed with stakeholders based on global-scale multi-model simulations of hydrological variables and derived products. We adapted the tandem framework of the Swedish Environmental Institute (SEI) for the co-production process. Participatory stakeholder dialogues through 7 workshops from focus regions in Europe, Africa, and finally with globally-acting companies serve to integrate the various experiences, needs and expectations of various regions and users. The relevant modelling output variables were co-produced with the stakeholders as well as appropriate end-user products: these encompass static and dynamically generated information in the visualization tool, including interactive maps, diagrams, time series graphs, and suitably co-developed statistics, with appropriate visualization of uncertainty. The visualization tools will be complemented by meta-information, tutorials and handbook guidelines with use cases how to utilize the provided information in models of local participatory risk assessments. The service will reach a broad range of stakeholders from around the world (policy makers, practitioners NGOs, the private sector, the research community, the public in general) to access this information for their region of interest for free. Finally, the project produces new knowledge about the optimal design of co-development processes and enables social learning and capacity building.