PLAtform for Climate Adaptation and Risk reDuction (PLACARD)
Introduction
Significant challenges exist in strengthening the Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) communities for coherent, mutually reinforcing and pragmatic planning and action. PLACARD seeks to to increase resilience against climate and disaster risks by supporting the coordination of these two communities.
The PLACARD project aimed to tackle current challenges by
- Providing a common ‘space’ where CCA and DRR communities can come together, share experiences and create opportunities for collaboration;
- Facilitating communication and knowledge exchange between both communities; and
- Supporting the coordination and coherence of CCA and DRR research, policy and practice.
PLACARD’s approach to achieving these goals was to establish a comprehensive coordination and knowledge exchange platform for Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). The platform fostered dialogue and consultation among stakeholders (e.g. researchers, research funders, policymakers, practitioners) to address gaps and fragmentation challenges in current CCA and DRR research, policymaking and practice, and support the development and implementation of an evidence base for research and innovation policies.
This overarching network enabled these communities to share knowledge, to discuss challenges and to jointly co-produce options to bridge the gaps they experience. It has supported the development and implementation of a research and innovation agenda to make better use of research funding, as well as to develop guidelines to strengthen relevant institutions in their efforts to mainstream CCA and DRR.
Specific objectives of the PLACARD project:
- Establish a network of networks of different CCA and DRR stakeholder groups and initiatives at the international, European, national and sub-national scales;
- Create a common space to facilitate dialogue and consultation among stakeholders and initiatives;
- Design effective science, policy and practice dialogues;
- Take stock of the CCA and DRR decision making context;
- Facilitate and guide knowledge exchange and mobilisation between CCA and DRR;
- Strengthen CCA and DRR institutions and give direction to policy-practice agendas;
- Streamline the dissemination and implementation of ongoing and evolving research and innovation activities on CCA and DRR across scales.
PLACARD evolved iteratively based on learning from the different processes and experiences with the stakeholders, and being flexible and responsive to changing needs. The PLACARD Consortium was built around the leadership of a number of key European institutions experienced in CCA and DRR policy and practice, and UN organizations leading and engaged inpost-2015 agendas.
Key achievements
Bridging CCA and DRR in the European Green Deal
The PLACARD Manifesto shares key insights for bridging CCA and DRR, including three areas for action to improve cooperation, and providing recommendations for the European Green Deal. These were discussed during the PLACARD Final Virtual Conference held in May 2020.
Using stories to encourage action
PLACARD has explored the potential of storytelling and strategic narratives for stimulating behaviour change and action. Outputs include a ‘cookbook’ for building your own strategic narratives, a video on the power of stories and how we can learn about narratives through creativity and imagination. Related to this work is the “A youth’s call for climate action – “Young Voices”” video project that was shown during the closing ceremony of the PLACARD hosted ECCA 2019 confernece.
Using foresight to promote resilience
PLACARD has explored how firesight can support decision-makers and bring the CCA and DRR communities together. The report Foresight for Policy & Decision Makers explores the application of foresight and foresight processes as a “multimethod” forward-looking toolkit that can be relevant for both the climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR) communities, as well as enhancing integration across science, policy and practice. It builds on several workshops and a webinar during the course of the PLACARD project. PLACARD highlighted how foresight can be a valuable tool in both climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction, as well a useful method to integrate the two approaches in this earlier policy brief.
Should the EU worry about the weather? The PLACARD policy brief Weather worries: the future of Europe depends on how it manages the risks of climate extremes is based on a foresight workshop which was held from 11-12 December 2018 in Brussels. Upsides and downsides, challenges and response actions were discussed for 3 of the 5 scenarios from the EU White Paper on the Future of Europe and three climate cases (floods, heat waves and droughts, and storm surges).
Strengthening institutional coordination & capacities
PLACARD brought together hands-on experience from twenty-eight CCA and DRR experts across Europe to produce guidance on fostering cooperation between institutions to strengthen interaction and collaboration. The guidance brings together hands-on experience from twenty-eight CCA and DRR experts across Europe to produce guidance. It is based on experience gained during the project (2015–2020) and provides insights and inspiration through showcasing innovative activities that target cooperation, collaboration, improved communication, increased coherence, and capacity-sharing between the CCA and DRR communities.
The guidance provides twenty recommendations for strengthening institutional coordination and capacities, in five areas: 1) safeguarding sound governance, 2) ensuring effective financing, 3) seizing opportunities for cooperation, 4) sharing new forms of communication, and 5) enhancing knowledge management.
Transforming knowledge management
PLACARD has produced the Connectivity Hub, a dynamic and interactive online visualisation of the landscape of organisations and activities, connecting the topic-specific knowledge networks on CCA and DRR. The Hub is an example of what can be achieved when actors across communities all work together.
The PLACARD paper Transforming knowledge management for climate action: A road map for accelerated discovery and learning presents a road map for taking this approach even further. It outlines how taking basic steps to change the conduct of a basic organisational practice – information and knowledge management (IKM) – can accelerate action on climate change and lay the foundation for further advances from artificial intelligence (AI) approaches now on the horizon.
Improving the facilitation of participatory meetings on CCA and DRR
Participate! is an interactive online training course developed by the PLACARD team that focuses on the facilitation of participatory meetings such as workshops, conferences and training courses for the climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR) communities. It aims to support the design of effective science, policy and practice events and equips participants with a range of participatory methodologies, relevant to these two fields.
Monitoring & evaluation to enhance adaptation and reduce disaster risk
PLACARD has examined some of the lessons learned from M&E emerging from CCA and DRR evaluation processes, and how we can ensure that learning can inform both practices. These discussions are captured in this webinar on monitoring & evaluation to enhance adaptation and reduce disaster risk and this ECCA 2017 session on fostering dialogue and learning on M&E of climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction policies.
Exploring the potential of ecosystem-based approaches
This PLACARD policy brief on ecosystem-based approaches highlights the complex nature of environmental challenges and make recommendations for the integration of ecosystem-based approaches within CCA and DRR science, policy and practice.
Connecting CCA & DRR – outputs from our workshop
This PLACARD workshop brought together policymakers and networks from across Europe to consider how to better integrate climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR) in both policy and practice. Find out what we discussed, what we discovered and how PLACARD can help.