Assessing the Socio-Economic Benefits of Meteorological and Hydrological Services

In this presentation we discuss ongoing efforts to develop guidance on socio-economic benefit (SEB) assessment for implementation by National Meteorological Services (NMS) and National Hydrological Services (NHS). Work to date includes development of a draft SEB document; seminars in Brunei, South Africa, and Curaçao; a case study in the Caribbean; and initial review of the document at the recent third International Conference on Climate Services (ICCS 3). In this presentation we overview the importance of SEB analyses, the contents of the SEB document, the WMO seminars, Caribbean case study, and plans to complete and disseminate the SEB document.

USAID's Climate Change Resilient Development (CCRD) program provides climate change adaptation technical support to USAID's Bureaus, Missions, and assistance partners. Under CCRD's Economic Valuation of Climate Services task, work on the valuation of climate services has been undertaken under the Climate Services Partnership (CSP) Working Group, establish during the first International Conference on Climate Services (ICCS 1) in October 2011.

With USAID support, CCRD developed a synthesis paper on body of literature on socio-economic benefits of climate services and identified key issues related to the design of valuation studies. An understanding of these benefits is important to national meteorological and hydrometeorological agencies in justifying current and increased expenditures on weather, climate and hydrological services, and for promoting new and improved services to users.

Building on these efforts, in April 2013, CCRD, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and The World Bank co-organized a 4-day workshop at WMO in Geneva to plan the preparation of a guidance document on the design, methods, and communication of analysis of the benefits of climate services. CCRD, WMO, The World Bank, and a wide range of experts in socio-economic benefit analysis and hydro-meteorological services committed to the development of this guidance document, tentatively titled, Assessing the Socio-Economic Benefits of Meteorological and Hydrological Services.

To ground-truth the approach, elicit stakeholder input, and promote the effort, three seminars were held to familiarize practitioners in developing country NMS and NHS with the design of valuation studies. These seminars, organized by WMO included a meeting in Brunei ((WMO Region V – October 2013) for nine developing country NMS and NHS, a meeting in South Africa (WMO Region I – November 2013), and a meeting in Curaçao (WMO Region IV – December 2013).

As part of the document development, a case study was implemented to demonstrate the design and methodological considerations elaborated in the guidance document. The case study location was selected in consultations involving NCAR, the CSP Secretariat (International Research Institute for Climate and Society), CCRD, WMO and the World Bank. The case study focused on the Caribbean Agro-Meteorological Initiative (CAMI), a 10-country climate services initiative to increase and sustain agricultural productivity at the farm level in the Caribbean region through improved applications of weather and climate information using an integrated and coordinated approach. The project, funded by the European Union under the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) Science and Technology Programme through the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH) and partners undertook work in Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Trinidad and Tobago.

In coordination with the WMO regional seminars and compilation of a complete first document draft, in conjunction with ICCS 3 in Montego Bay Jamaica (December 4-6), the CSP Working Group on valuation of climate services met to discuss the first draft of the guidance document. The case study was also presented at ICCS 3 in Montego Bay, Jamaica and is featured in a chapter of the guidance document. Following a planned writing workshop to be held at NCAR in Boulder, CO in April, the final SEB document is expected in mid-2014.

In this presentation we overview the importance of SEB analyses, the contents of the SEB document, the WMO seminars, the CAMI case study, and plans to complete and disseminate the SEB document.