2023 Reports

Bridging the climate information gap for adaptation: Mainstreaming climate services into higher education in Bangladesh

Tasnim, Tasfia; Annum, Farah; Curtis, Ashley E.; Braun, Melody; Shuvo, Sakib Rahman Siddique; Anjum, Bushra; Amjath-Babu, TS; Khanam, Fahmida

Bangladesh has proactively integrated climate change into national policies, and is renowned for constantly improving adaptation capacity. Yet, much of the focus has concentrated on long-term climate change scenarios and short-term weather forecasts. Additionally, most decision-makers (both policymakers and practitioners) lack the knowledge and skills to understand and use available climate information (past, present, short-, medium- and long-term future) that can support locally-led adaptation and reduce loss and damage. Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) has been working with IRI and others to improve not only the range and quality of information products but also its communication modalities. International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD), International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD), and International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) jointly created the Bangladesh Academy for Climate Services (BACS) to strengthen national climate services through training, academic engagement and stakeholder convening. This report describes the outcomes of an Adaptation Research Alliance (ARA) funded microgrant project aligned with the BACS goals of co-producing climate services content that can help bridge the climate services knowledge gap in Bangladesh through transdisciplinary collaboration. The project was a collaboration between several universities across the country to support a long-term vision where young people are trained in every climate-sensitive sector to make use of all information available to improve their resilience.