Integrated Knowledge System on Climate Change Adaptation Conceptual & Technological Framework OneWorld South Asia December 2008

Rational & Context ■ Climate justice is an integral human development challenge, given that it is the poor and the marginalised who are the most affected ■ Climate change is real and there is an urgent need for adapting to current and projected consequences of climate change; ● This urgency is magnified in the context of vulnerable communities, who have lesser abilities to cope with the consequence of climate change ● New technologies and a collective pool of ICT facilitated knowledge can support adaptation and mitigation efforts that address both development and climate change challenges ■ Integrated Knowledge System on Climate Change Adaptation (IKS-CCA) seeks to address this by enabling knowledge support services: ● To collate and/or refer to the wealth of community level knowledge resources in terms of climate change adaptation experiences and potentially replicable good practices ► In Text, Images, Audio and Video ● Supplement these with available knowledge on adaptation strategies and new technologies ● Enable their easy and open access across multiple delivery mechanisms: web, fixed line telephony, mobile, SMS, radio – or an innovative mix of these channels ■ Being developed for South Asian context, but can be replicated/scaled up for Global South

Goals & Deliverables ■ The IKS-CCA is to serve as a knowledge resource base and knowledge service on climate change issues – with special attention to the adaptive needs of grassroots communities. ■ IKS-CCA would ● provide contextual knowledge on the basis of geography, language and local concerns for local and grassroots needs ► drawn from community sources and adapted from existing knowledge resources; ● enable a platform for stakeholder engagement, knowledge-based advocacy and campaigns to further climate justice efforts and initiatives from the South.

Salient Features The proposed System ■ focuses on the adaptive needs of the developing world, of poor and marginalised groups and grassroots communities; ■ includes information and knowledge from a range of sources in a variety of formats; ■ uses a combination of technological tools and media to facilitate collation and dissemination IKS-CCA can be unpacked in terms of 3 (three) interlinked aspects: ■ Digital content of contextual knowledge on climate change adaptation; ■ Multi-stakeholder and multi-dimensional knowledge partnerships; and ■ Technology solutions and services for knowledge acquisition and delivery

IKS-CCA: Content ■ Locally usable content derived from the growing body of knowledge on climate change and related concerns, ● emanating from the global initiatives on climate change research, collaboration and dialogue; and ● debates, discussions and advocacy on issues of climate change adaptation at the regional and national levels ■ Documentation of experiential learning in terms of adaptation strategies at the localised level – facilitated and strengthened by knowledge partners of IKS-CCA ■ Appropriation of emerging media tools and Web 2.0 technologies to facilitate content acquisition and delivery in the form of text, audio, image and video

IKS-CCA: Knowledge Partnership ■ Knowledge partnerships with agencies and organisations that are leaders in their geographical or thematic areas ■ Community-oriented or community-based organisations and networks for collation of grassroots content and solutions ■ Linking with the growing global community and dialogues ● to draw upon the available body of knowledge on climate change and on adaptation; and ● in turn share knowledge in terms of people's perspectives and grassroots solutions ■ Appropriation of technologies to support collaborative knowledge partnerships

Integrated Web2.0 Approach

IKS – CCA Experts/ Knowledge Contributer ■ Voice is an easier mode of commutation and information sharing for grassroots communities ■ Access deficit of mobile phone and community radio are much less than that of computers with Internet Audio as Key Knowledge Exchange Medium

■ Core of the IKS-CCA deployment ■ Carries a humane rather than an environment oriented vocabulary IKS-CCA Taxonomy

KNOWLEDGE DATABASE Knowledge Contributors/ Experts Content management System LEGEND User Knowledge Contributor Expert IKS - CCA Content Acquisition/ delivery through SMS / MMS Mobile Integration to Web

Capability Attribution Issues ■ Capacity of grassroots communities to leverage the New Media and Web 2.0 tools innovatively ● Space for Civil Society action? ■ Capacity to create/aggregate/share locally relevant digital content in local language ● Ensuring community owned decision on locally relevant knowledge ► Who decides & how? ● Is there adequate capacity within community to make judicious decisions? ■ Capacity to appropriate traditional and emerging technologies with the Web ● Not enough capacity within ‘the next billion’ ● How to develop that capacity – longitudinal vs one-off approach

Thank You