Extreme weather and longer-term climate change are increasingly impacting humanitarian operations, both for disaster response and in meeting longer-term development goals. For example, over half of the operations of the Red Cross Red Crescent are now in direct response to weather related events, plus a vast majority compounded by climate shocks and stresses. Weather related humanitarian crises are often complex and situation specific, requiring a deep understanding of the underlying meteorology and its timescales, the resulting hazard, exposure and operational action.
Although there are several examples of sustained, meaningful engagement between the meteorological and humanitarian communities, there is both a need and an opportunity to build deeper relationships, defining key principals that support increased collaboration. Some of the key issues include:
- How to balance the constraints between research and operations; In applied sciences there is a tension between the need to publish rigorous analysis to uphold the scientific method, while in the humanitarian community there is often the need to use science that is ‘sufficient’ or ‘good enough’.
- The disparity between academic project timescales and the long-term engagement / short-fuse action often required by the humanitarian sector.
- The complexities and lack of incentives for creating tailored versions of existing research output, or for moving from research to applications.
- The disconnect between the content of peer reviewed academic literature and the tailored output needed by the humanitarian sector to make actionable decisions.
- The lack of incentive for those in the humanitarian sector to write up their own research outcomes, along with the logistical and cost barriers to accessing the peer reviewed journal process.
There are many exciting innovations on the horizon to overcome these challenges. These include co-sponsored researchers, dedicated “translator” centres integrated within the structures of humanitarian organizations, or academic funding programmes dedicated to humanitarian linked research. This session uses the "hard talk format" to allow space to candidly discuss these topics, exploring the state of affairs and reflecting on novel approaches to bridge the gap.
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