Joint knowledge production for improved climate services: Insights from the Swedish forestry sector

Abstract

Science-stakeholder collaboration is becoming an increasingly common way to address mismatches between the knowledge needs of stakeholders and the research being done by scientists. This kind of mismatch is clearly evident in the field of climate change adaptation, arguing for the design and application of user-and decision-driven, coproduced climate services. Science-based participatory processes have shown clear benefits in establishing arenas for joint knowledge production on climate change and adaptation.However, multiple challenges remain. This paper presents and discusses findings from an assessment of a participatory climate services process conducted as part of a research program on climate change adaptation in the Swedish forestry sector. We identify enablers and barriers to successful science-stakeholder collaboration and put forward recommendations for more stakeholder-driven, participatory coproduction processes. Our analysis offers insights that could help achieve more informed decision-making and policy development and ultimately climate action under the Paris Agreement.

Contextual knowledge co-production and capacity building for sanitation planning: experience from Kerala, India

“…Our empirical analysis also reinforces findings from previous studies (Gerger Swartling et al, 2019) that the assignment of an actor with leadership and collaborative skills for the task of facilitating and managing the process is central. This ensured support from the community and trust built with collaborators ensured continuity, especially the engagements with the local government.…”

Environmental governance in an increasingly complex world: Reflections on transdisciplinary collaborations for knowledge coproduction and learning

“…Gerger Swartling, Tenggren, André and Olsson () in their paper, present and discuss findings from an assessment of a participatory climate services process, conducted as part of a climate change adaptation program and involving many different actors. The adaptation program focused on the Swedish forestry sector, which is characterized by numerous different and competing interests.…”

Assessing the Quality of Knowledge for Adaptation–Experiences From Co-designing Climate Services in Sweden

“…To overcome the challenges of climate information for policy-making and action, recent studies increasingly advocate a transdisciplinary knowledge integration approach (Daniels et al, 2020) where "...researchers and knowledge users meaningfully interact to co-create knowledge that is actionable in decisionmaking" (Mach et al, 2020, 30). Such an approach has been shown to be useful not only for adaptation decisionmaking (Vaughan and Dessai, 2014), but for fostering mutual understanding and learning, enhancing the perceived saliency, credibility, and legitimacy of research outcomes; empowering users, motivating them, and increasing their sense of ownership; building trust, creating networks, and boosting institutional capacity (Bremer et al, 2019;Cvitanovic et al, 2019;Gerger Swartling et al, 2019;Schneider et al, 2019;Daniels et al, 2020) However, it has been challenging to scale up knowledge co-production, learn from practice, and improve approaches because of a lack of reflection and clarity on how the concept is interpreted and applied (Norström et al, 2020); even the terminology is inconsistent. As a first step, there is a need for increased reflexivity and transparency among scholars adopting co-production approaches about how and when they should be used (Bremer and Meisch, 2017;Jagannathan et al, 2020); as well as how to move beyond learning within projects to capture lessons learned across contexts (Lang et al, 2012).…”