Anna Jonsson (Sweden) 1; Caroline Weidbo (Sweden) 1; Magnus Rödin (Sweden) 1; Jacob Von Oelreich (Sweden) 1; Aino Krunegård (Sweden) 1
1 - Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, SMHI
Objective
This presentation describes the co-creative process of developing a web-based decision support tool for municipalities in Sweden, Lathund för klimatanpassning. The project was initiated by the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute in 2017, with the objective of developing a tool relevant, manageable and user-friendly for adaptation coordinators in small municipalities (below 50,000 inhabitants). Smaller municipalities have limited resources and knowledge for approaching the issue and have difficulties finding adequate tools for practical adaptation work at the local level. We describe the co-creative process, the structure and content of the final tool. Finally, we assess the impacts of the Lathund för klimatanpassning and draw conclusions regarding the value of this type of decision support tools.
Method
With inspiration from the Adaptation Support Tool from The European Climate Adaptation Platform and Urban Adaptation Support Tool from the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, SMHI developed a guide for how municipalities can approach and work with climate adaptation. For many smaller municipalities, this is a new and abstract issue. To ensure relevance and usability for the municipal users, 15 small municipalities were engaged in a co-creative development process. SMHI led the process but sought regular feedback from the municipalities.
Results
The Lathund contains guidance on how to motivate, establish, analyze, identify, prioritize, implement and follow up climate adaptation work for the whole municipality. This ensures holistic analysis of climate change. The Lathund also contains materials for those who seek specific knowledge concerning their own area or sector. In March 2018, a first version of the tool was launched, and an upgraded version was launched in October 2018.
Conclusion
The tool has been warmly received by County Administrative Boards who support local governments in their work with climate adaptation, and see opportunities in using the Lathund for this. The participating municipalities are satisfied with the final product, and have all taken several steps in their own hands-on work during the process. In several municipalities, the Lathund-project has provided a tool for communicating climate change risks and the need for adaptation to local politicians. The overall impacts of the Lathund för klimatanpassning are still too early to assess. A reflection from the SMHI project group is that without the continuous dialogue with municipal representatives, the final product would have looked rather different. This project has taught us the importance of sincerely listening to the needs of end-users.