Access to, use and application of weather and climate information in Africa and Asia is increasing. This report, from  Building Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Extremes and Disasters (BRACED), explores the various challenges end-users face in applying the information they receive.

This is related to the quality of the information products, a lack of information at appropriate scales and difficulties in communicating and interpreting the information produced.

BRACED presents an opportunity to integrate climate services into resilience programming. By adapting climate information to specific contexts but within an overall resilience programme, BRACED can create an enabling environment for better access, use and application of weather and climate information, and makes the following suggestions:

• Climate information needs to be service-orientated and integrated into decision making from national through to the community level.
• The success of resilience programmes will depend on their ability to create opportunities to strengthen climate services in country. Additional support is needed to (i) strengthen the capacity of information providers, so they are able to produce more localised, timely and accurate climate information; and (ii) institutionalise two-way communication, between producers and endusers, so those who need it can continue to use information over time to build resilience.
• The generation and communication of climate information to build resilience needs to be linked to development processes through its insertion in sectoral plans and decisions on basic service delivery.

This paper is now also available to download in French here: Informations et services climatiques dans les pays du programme BRACED

Download the English version here: Climate information and services in BRACED countries