Building Capacity and Improving Resilience to Weather and Climate Extremes in the Philippines through Effective Co-Production

The UK Department for International Development (DFID) funded the Met Office, in partnership with the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), to help strengthen PAGASA's capacity to improve resilience to weather and climate extremes in the Philippines in response to Typhoon Haiyan which struck in November 2013 causing widespread devastation. One of the key components of this two year project (ended in December 2016) was to improve co-production, uptake, communication and use of climate information at the local scale and in the course, develop a process to inform local planning and decision making through direct engagement with decision makers at the local government level and local business representatives.

Here we will reflect on the process employed, the outcomes and the lessons learned of a pilot study conducted during the project (in Manila and Salcedo, Eastern Samar), to improve the capacity of local level decision-makers to better understand and use weather and climate information. Through a series of interactive and collaborative workshops and dialogue between the producers and users of climate information (e.g. local planners and community level “Barangay” officers), the pilot trained over 100 local community members and resulted in the co-development of a process, including the Climate Risk Analysis Matrix (CLIRAM), to help integrate climate information into local and sectoral decision making by enabling the participants to contextualize this information in terms of potential impacts. This pilot represents a step in the process to addressing the challenge of communicating and using complicated and uncertain information for use at the local level and highlights challenges in achieving this. We will conclude with insights into the development of tailored climate services in the Philippines, discussing the role of local, national, regional and international institutions.