Unpacking local knowledge and decision-making in the Alazani living lab, Georgia

In August and September, Sumiran Rastogi (PhD candidate, IHE Delft) along with I-CISK living lab leads at CENN, Miranda Apakidze and Vakho Chitishvili, carried out workshops and interviews with the multi-actor platform and members of the local community in Alazani River basin. The purpose of this field visit was to understand local perceptions of changing climate and weather patterns, the impact of climate change on livelihoods in the region, and identify coping and adaptation strategies implemented by local communities. The I-CISK team used various participatory techniques including problem trees and seasonal calendars to interactively engage with the community members and understand how agricultural decisions are taken – factors affecting it and local knowledge underpinning it.

Local knowledge is a crucial element in understanding local experiences of climate change and thereby building climate services that are appropriate to the needs of the community. I-CISK through its explicit focus on local knowledge and its integration with scientific knowledge, aims to innovate how the next generation of climate services are designed.