The REACHOUT series of interviews aim at collecting more personal views from colleagues developing and applying climate services for urban adaptation and resilient development, get more insight on the state of knowledge, the main ongoing discourse, and get a more concrete view of what their work encompasses. A sneak peek, so to say, behind the jargon and throbbing sentences used in policy documents and research proposals. Throughout the project, team members will complete a round of interviews. One colleague will interview another, and the interviewed colleague then conducts the following interview of the next team member and so on. As each member interviews and gets interviewed in this manner, all topics will be covered over the duration of this project. Read our latest interview with Leon Kapetas, our REACHOUT partners from Resilient Cities Network (R-Cities) and James Strout, Technical Expert at the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI).

James, you have worked quite closely with Lillestrøm as they have been exploring different climate services. What are the lessons for you and your team from this experience? Many think of municipal administrations as entities, but when you start working with them the ‘entity’ turns into a wonderfully diverse bunch of individuals. Everyone is unique, but among those working with climate adaptation, biodiversity and nature-based solutions you quickly find a personal connection through the shared feeling that these things are important, they matter for the community, and this work makes a difference. However, you also quickly learn just how complex the responsibilities of the municipal administration are, and that implementing new services or solutions needs to be carefully considered in the context of all of the related activities and processes. There are also the challenges of budget limitations, public policy, procurement procedures as well as political will.  I think probably the most important lesson for us has been to find patience and keep perspective:  things take time, and we need to support our municipal contacts as they work their way through the complex system to implement new solutions.

How ready do you feel cities are to use climate services and what could increase uptake? As a general question, I think the general answer is everything from “not even close” to “already doing it”.  I think this disparity has a bit to do with local factors, for example social values and perceptions, but a lot has to do with local leadership. The municipalities who have come the furthest in climate adaption, including using climate services, are those that have visionary individuals in key positions who have the capability to mobilise and inspire, strengthen competency and build local capacity. To increase the uptake of climate services, we need to ensure that there are services at all levels: simple tools accessible for cities just getting started, to complex services appropriate for those municipalities with experienced and capable climate adaptation groups.

What is the status of (climate) science-policy collaboration and what would be the ambition for the years ahead? Interesting question to pose to an American! In some parts of the world it would seem that science-policy collaboration is in a tail-spin, however I think things are substantially better in Europe.  The increasing severity of climate change impacts are quite clearly influencing the public dialog between the scientific and political communities, and the sense of urgency is increasingly present in mass media. An important factor influencing this is a central topic within REACHOUT:  better communication of scientific results and services to the public. The ambition for the future should be that science takes its proper place in public debate – in every major issue or policy, the discussion needs to balance the social, economic, political, and scientific consequences.

Who would you like to speak to next? Elena Garrido Martínez from our REACHOUT City Hub Logroño!