There’s no delaying it any longer – if people are to successfully adapt to the realities of climate change, they need reliable climate information. This need highlights the importance of communicating climate science effectively – getting the right information to the right people and in the right form.
Research shows that a lack of trust in data and information provided by official sources, as well as in public institutions and policies, can cripple adaptation efforts. Yet in our work in East Africa we’ve realised that people tend not to trust climate information. Here we detail the factors that we believe cause this mistrust, and suggest ways to restore confidence in the science.
Meteorological forecasts need to be broken down and interpreted in ways that help local people to understand and use them in their livelihood planning. This could entail a meteorologist sitting with community members and working through each forecast with them. Alternatively, local communities could be trained to interpret and use climate forecasting information directly.