I-CISK launches a climate services game combining local and scientific knowledge

Recognising both local knowledge and scientific knowledge in climate services, and combining these different knowledge is essential to developing climate services that are credible, salient and legitimate; and important to more effective uptake and use of climate services. But how can this knowledge practically be combined? And does the considering of these different knowledges really lead to better decisions?

To help answer some of these questions, I-CISK is proud to announce the launch of a serious game through which the role of local knowledge in Climate Services can be explored. The game has been developed based on research undertaken in the Living Labs of the project, with a version of the game developed on research from the Lesotho Living Lab and a version based on research from the Georgia Living Lab. In the game, participants form groups to become a “Farmer”, needing to make decisions on what crops to plant each season and perhaps on livestock to keep. These decisions are informed by the “own” local knowledge of the farmers as well as climate services bulletins providing rainfall, temperature and wind predictions for the coming season. Both versions of the game have been made to be as realistic as possible, with dimensions of local knowledge based on field research from the project in Lesotho and Georgia, and climate data and forecasts being the real data, obtained from Copernicus [https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/]. This allows the game to be easily adapted to the context of other Living Labs.

Since its launch, the game has been played at the Understanding Risk Global Forum held in Himeji, Japan in June 2024 [https://understandrisk.org/event/ur24/] as well as at the annual WaterNet symposium, held this year in Maseru, Lesotho [https://www.waternetonline.org/calendar/2024/10/30/25th-waternet-warfsa-gwpsa-symposium]

At both these sessions, the game element certainly got participants excited, with different strategies followed by different “Farmers”. Each of the sessions produced a winning “Farmer” group – though the game also had a more serious side. Participants noted how the game made them more aware of the importance of local knowledge, and all reported that they found selected dimensions of the local knowledge to be very useful in triangulating with the scientific knowledge provided in bulletins. Participants appreciated in wrap-up discussions how the game not only showed the importance of different knowledge but also practical ways forward on how local and scientific knowledge can be integrated to help cross the last mile in climate services.

The game will be further developed to make it easier to play, as well as to adapt to other contexts. The use of the game in these conferences has been mainly for awareness raising, but it will also be used to play with stakeholders in the Living Labs, as a part of the ongoing research.

Please contact the project coordinator for more information [m.werner@un-ihe.org]