B.Preliminary analysis B.1Questions/Gaps to consider

B.2Challenges for adaptation platforms

C.Stakeholder engagement

Good practices for engaging users in the development, delivery and evaluation of web-based adaptation platforms, but also engaging researchers and providers of other information towards further development of the content and presentation of services (e.g. sharing their results and enhancing the quality and relevance of the information and services available). The challenges include engaging users, providers and researchers to:

identify users and users’ needs, and potential contributors;

increase the demand and uptake of the presented information;

enhance the information and other resources available on the platform (e.g. stimulate other experts to contribute information and resources);

addressing the stakeholder engagement challenges required developing engagement strategy and plans that can target users and potential contributors.

Additionally, this challenge includes two additional factors:

understanding what users really need versus what providers ‘think’ they need;

dealing with stakeholders’ expectation management (recognising the limitations of financial and human resources).

The nature and sustainability of funding is a significant challenge that is also related to meeting expectations and increasing the demand (market) for adaptation services. Challenges that have been identified include:

what are appropriate models for funding (start off, maintenance and development), including criteria;

funding is often project-based and depends on funds from specific funding agencies (e.g. research funders); for those platforms that are project-based, growing the market, development and engagement can be challenging. these challenges include encouraging others to contribute to the development (co-design and co-production) of the services ;

challenge of medium to long-term planning that includes funding for regular maintenance and increasing and evolving needs of users – meeting users’ expectations and building the trust and confidence of the stakeholder communities;

keeping website up to date requires skilled human resources and this can be challenging with project-based funding.

The challenge is to present adaptation services that are relevant, credible and accessible with the aim of increasing the utility and demand for the adaptation services available on the platform. This challenge is further complicated by the complexities of adaptation and of the different users and their decision-making processes. The factors contributing to this challenge are associated with understanding the roles of information and knowledge in supporting and leading to adaptation and using this understanding in presenting /making available the adaptation services. This usually includes:

finding the appropriate approaches to present the information to the target audience. one particular requirement is to find an appropriate balance between generic and customised approached;

exploring and assessing innovative approaches including the use of visualisation techniques and interactive tools, and the use of other types of media (social media, videos, face-to-face presentations, newsletters, etc.). this included matching technical (it) requirements with users’ capabilities and capacities;

enhancing the structure, functionality (e.g. search capabilities) and navigation of the platform from the users’ perspectives – role in enhancing the accessibility and utility of the information and services;

presentation using the target users media, processes and specific language.

Other factors contributing to this challenge are:

finding the appropriate (user determined and science informed) balance between striving for completeness vs. ‘relevance’ (having the courage to leave gaps, define ‘niche > added value);

the language(s) to provide the adaptation services (to enhance the pick-up of the services provided, but also recognising the capacity to deliver).

Challenge #3: Presenting appropriate, complete and relevant knowledge? Climbing an alpine challenge? The C3-Alps initiative is conducted by a transnational consortium of 17 partners from all Alpine countries. It combines authorities responsible for climate adaptation policies on national and regional levels with expert institutions that support national and European adaptation strategies. Providing the appropriate information for such a diverse set of users and scales has led to a trade-off challenge: how to balance completeness and relevance when presenting and displaying climate adaptation knowledge in a single platform?

F.Practical issues

There are a number of practical issues that have been identified as challenging the development and delivery of an adaptation platform:

understanding what should be included (and excluded), including consideration of what this means for supporting users and relationships with other platforms (remit). is the role of the platform simply to provide information and access to data and decision-support tools, and to what extent access to knowledge and knowledge providers should be part of the services provided?

an ‘appropriate’ balance between maintenance, quality/content control and further development – assuring future quality (relevance and utility;

what resources/tools and information should be developed/provided and the level of associated supporting guidance (information on tools for adaptation, databases, checklist) – examples of good practices;

developing case studies and other guidance to support adaptation services, including linking to those available elsewhere (making decisions as to what should be included and related to linking to other sources);

identifying appropriate standards for (operating and business model).

Challenge #4: Let’s get practical. What climate information to include? Why is it relevant in the Danish National Adaptation platform? Denmark launched its web portal in January 2009. Since then it has been continuously developed to better support its users - local and regional planners - through the process of adaptation planning. But the devil is in the details. One of the main concerns early on was the scenarios the municipalities should adapt to, and the need for an authoritative top-down statement on this. Practical/policy and economic issues such as when to transform climate data into useful and concrete information for local members of the public has proven quite the challenge. From extreme precipitation to digital elevation models, choosing what (and how) information and tools to display is not a straightforward task.

G.Evaluation

This challenge relates to demonstrating the value added by the platform from the various perspectives (users, decision-makers, policy, economy, society, environment, etc.).. This includes understanding and demonstrating the role of the platform and the different services and resources comprising the platform (attribution). Factors contributing to this challenge include understanding:

measures of success/failure; who defines and reporting;

understanding who is accessing the platform, for what purposes and the outcomes of that use (attribution) is complex with many uncertainties – the role of users’ feedback and how to use effectively to evaluate and improve the platform;

the role of evaluation in learning and continuous improvement and potential contributions to reporting on adaptation;

the value of the platform and its information is dependent upon the fact that they are both integrated into existing policies and business. if the platform is a free stand-alone portal with many good ideas but no political, legal, economic and social relation it will not succeed in providing guidance to decision-makers, regardless of how credible the science on which it is based. this suggests that a challenge for the platform is to integrate the content with policies and local practices.

There is a growing interest in, and landscape of, climate change adaptation platforms all of which are available to users. This includes platforms that are operating at different scales (sub-national, national, transnational, Europe-wide and global. These platforms include climate services, climate change adaptation services and disaster risk management platforms. Contributing to this challenge is that fact that there is little coordination at the national or European levels among these different platforms. As such, from users’ perspectives, these different services can appear conflicting leading to confusion and frustration (where to go for the required information and other services), especially if operating independently. From the different providers’ perspectives there is increasing competition for ‘space’ that can lead to potential duplication of efforts and difficulties securing the necessary support (funding and support of the those providing resources and other service), but also reducing the potential for engaging the stakeholders (stakeholder fatigue and lack of willingness to engage). Factors that can contribute to this challenge include:

reaching agreement on the relative remits of adaptation platforms operating at different scales, and among adaptation, climate services, and disaster risk management platforms;

need to clearly define effective relationships between adaptation platforms operating at different scales–what are the different roles and responsibilities in supporting users, what is the value added of having platforms operating at different scales, what and where is cooperation needed, and what are ‘effective’ models and modalities for cooperation;

explore the relationships between adaptation platforms and climate services and disaster risk reduction platforms with the purpose of identifying mutually beneficial and sustainable delivery models;

explore the potential benefits and challenges of establishing links to other (e.g. sector-based) platforms as a contribution to realising the platforms remit;

means and mechanisms for facilitating the exchange of information between national and transnational / European platforms – towards enhancing the quality of the services provided to users;

ways to exchange info by means of operative reporting information among national and European platforms.

I.Quality Control and Assurance

Introducing quality control and assurance – what is required, what is the value added by including quality control and assurance, what are the different mechanisms and means for ‘effective’ quality control and assurance, and how to communicate the results. This includes exploring the use of ISO standards / INSPIRE (including in the context of enhancing the interoperability with other platforms)