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The Lancet Countdown is an international collaboration established to provide an independent, global monitoring system dedicated to tracking the emerging health profile of the changing climate. The 2020 report presents 43 indicators across five sections: climate change impacts, exposures, and vulnerabilities; adaptation, planning, and resilience for health; mitigation actions and health co-benefits; economics and finance; and public and political engagement. This report represents the findings and consensus of the 35 leading academic institutions and UN agencies that make up the Lancet Countdown, and draws on the expertise of climate scientists, geographers, engineers, experts in energy, food, and transport, economists, social, and political scientists, data scientists, public health professionals, and doctors.

The Lancet Countdown is an international, multidisciplinary collaboration, dedicated to monitoring the evolving health profile of climate change, and providing an independent assessment of the delivery of commitments made by governments worldwide under the Paris Agreement...

This report summarizes findings from qualitative research undertaken by the Center for International Climate Research (CICERO) and the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) in Tanzania between 2014 and 2016 under the Global Framework for Climate Services Adaptation Programme in Africa (GFCS-APA). This research has aimed to support the programme’s internal monitoring and evaluation efforts by establishing a baseline and conducting follow-up research aimed at understanding how potential users of climate services at the local, district and national levels can be supported to access and apply climate information and services in decision-making concerning agriculture and food security, disaster risk reduction and management and health. Findings draw on interviews and focus group discussions with potential users and intermediaries of climate services in Kiteto and Longido districts, and key informant interviews with climate service co-producers, intermediaries and users at local, district and national levels. Following the approach taken in the baseline report, we assess the ‘usability’ of both scientific climate information and services and indigenous knowledge in relation to user perceptions of the credibility, salience, and legitimacy of this knowledge, also known as the knowledge system criteria (Cash et al., 2003, Tang and Dessai 2011). Findings from research conducted in 2016 are presented in relation to qualitative indicators and sub-indicators of “user satisfaction” that were developed and applied in the baseline report (Daly, West and Yanda, 2016). The indicators address respondents’: perceptions and experiences of institutional coordination and steering mechanisms for delivering climate services across scales (indicator 1); awareness of and access to climate information and service channels (indicator 2); satisfaction with the information and services developed and received (indicator 3), and views and experiences concerning the role of indigenous knowledge (IK) about the weather, climate and related adaptation options (indicator 4) in local decision-making processes. The findings suggest that while efforts at co-producing user-oriented climate services under the GFCS-APA have strengthened institutional coordination and steering mechanisms for climate services development at the national level and enhanced awareness of and access to climate information and service channels amongst some stakeholders, access to salient, credible and legitimate climate information and services remains highly uneven at the local level. Disparities in levels of basic service provision, mismatches in the timing and resolution of seasonal forecasts, and difficulties in understanding and translating forecast information into actionable advice, continue to undermine the usability of scientific climate and meteorological information within and across villages in the two districts studied. Gender roles and gendered disparities in literacy in some cases further undermine women’s abilities to access climate services and constrain their ability to understand and interpret climate information. Despite these limitations, respondents at the local level generally consider scientific information about the weather and climate to be potentially “useful” information that can complement traditional forecasts and local and indigenous sources of knowledge about weather, climate and related adaptation options. However, the findings suggest that substantial barriers exist to coproducing, institutionalizing, scaling up and sustaining decision-driven climate information and services that meet expressed stakeholder needs, that cut across sectors, and that are widely accessible and usable. The findings illustrate some of the challenges encountered to co-producing usable climate information and services within a multiagency climate services programme targeting diverse stakeholders and sectors. Consolidating and sharing learning from the pilot phase of the GFCS-APA will constitute an important first step towards developing more credible, salient and legitimate processes for co-producing usable climate services going forward. With this in mind we offer ten recommendations for enhancing user satisfaction with climate services in Tanzania in the future.

The Lancet Countdown: tracking progress on health and climate change was established to provide an independent, global monitoring system dedicated to tracking the health dimensions of the impacts of, and the response to, climate change. The Lancet Countdown tracks 41 indicators across five domains: climate change impacts, exposures, and vulnerability; adaptation, planning, and resilience for health; mitigation actions and health co-benefits; finance and economics; and public and political engagement...

February 2017 saw climate change coverage decrease across the fifty sources in twentyseven countries around planet Earth (see Figure 1). Coverage of political, scientific, ecological/meteorological, and cultural dimensions of climate change issues dropped 26% globally from the previous month and 23% from the previous February (2016). Compared to January 2017, this decrease was most pronounced in North America with a 55% dip. While the content of coverage in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom (UK), the United States (US) and around the world continued to place a steady focus on movements of the newly anointed Donald J. Trump Administration in the US (see Figure 2), media attention focused more frequently on a range of other political, social and economic threats and issues during the month of February. Trump Administration movements did not contribute to a bump in coverage overall in February; instead, it was more of a ‘Trump Dump’ where media attention that would have focused on other climate-related events and issues instead was placed on Trump-related actions, leaving many other stories untold in this month.

May 2017 coverage of climate change and global warming increased compared to the previous month, as overall coverage across all sources in twenty-eight countries showed an approximate 10 percent increase compared to April 2017. Coverage of political, scientific, ecological/meteorological, and cultural dimensions of climate change increased most prominently in Africa and Asia, which saw 31 percent and 28 percent increases in coverage, respectively. Europe and North American also saw modest month-to-month increases in coverage, while the Middle East, Oceania, and South America all showed slight decreases compared to the previous month. Europe (142%), Oceania (81%), and Asia (22%) all increased coverage of climate change compared to May 2016. Overall, coverage across all sources in twenty-eight countries decreased approximately 43 percent compared to May 2016.

June 2017 coverage of climate change and global warming went up nearly 46% compared to May. This was attributed largely to the news surrounding United States President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the 2015 United Nations Paris Climate Agreement, with media coverage on emergent US isolation following through the Group of Seven (G7) summit a few weeks later. These June 2017 numbers were also a 24% increase from the amount of June 2016 climate change coverage around the world. This was predictably most pronounced at the epicenter of the (in)action, where coverage in June in North America doubled from the previous month’s counts (see Figure 2 for US coverage).

March 2017 coverage on climate change has increased again during the past month. Numbers across all sources in twenty-eight countries showed a 13% increase from February 2017 overall. Coverage of political, scientific, ecological/meteorological, and cultural dimensions of climate change issues increased most prominently in the United States (US) up 35% from February 2017, and a 60% increase from March in the previous year.

August media attention to climate change and global warming marked a second consecutive month of lower coverage throughout the world. Articles were down 20% globally from coverage in the previous month of July. While August 2017 counts from fifty-two sources across twenty-eight countries in seven regions around the world were up 7% from coverage in August 2016, coverage in the month was also down about 20% from the average number of stories appearing each month in 2017 (approximately 2300 stories per month from January – August 2017).

January ushered in a new era for many things, including media attention to climate change. As many around the world braced for a new phase of approaches to science and the environment by the United States (US) Trump administration - who took up power on January 20th – stories focused largely on political and policy dimensions of climate change this month.

July 2017 coverage of climate change and global warming consistently dropped in regions around the world. Compared to June 2017, coverage was down about 27% globally. However, June was a month of comparatively high levels of coverage, due mainly to the news surrounding United States (US) President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the 2015 United Nations (UN) Paris Climate Agreement on the first day of that month. July’s counts from fifty-two sources across twenty-eight countries in seven regions around the world were on par with the average number of articles on climate change or global warming appearing each month to date in 2017 (there have been approximately 2304 stories/month from January – July 2017). July 2017 articles were up 23% from July coverage in the previous year.

This report is an output from the Global Framework for Climate Services Adaptation Program in Africa (GFCS-APA) Tanzania country activities. The aim of the report is to establish a baseline for monitoring “User Satisfaction with Climate Services” at the national, district, and local levels, with a focus on the programme target districts of Longido and Kiteto. A qualitative approach was employed to document 1) existing institutional coordination and steering mechanisms for a dedicated climate services platform at the national level; 2) respondents’ awareness of and access to climate information and services at national, district and local levels; 3) respondents’ perceptions of the ‘usability’ of climate information and services, and 4) the role of indigenous knowledge (IK) about weather, climate, and related adaptation options. Following Cash et al., (2003), we analyzed “user satisfaction” in relation to respondents’ perceptions of the credibility, salience, and legitimacy of climate information and services. Key findings include: 1) A national steering mechanism for climate services has been adopted, but there is a need to strengthen institutional coordination across all scales; 2) Awareness of and access to climate information and services are highly variable across institutional scales, indicating a need for increased awareness of the concept of climate services as well as efforts to enhance delivery of climate information; 3) Perceptions of the credibility of climate information and services are paramount to increasing user satisfaction, and depend upon respondents’ experience using climate information in practice. Mismatches between the timing of decision-making and the production and delivery of forecasts, as well as the limited spatial and temporal resolution of climate information and products, undermine the salience of climate information. The way in which forecasts are currently packaged and communicated presents additional challenges to understanding and interpreting the information for practical decision-making. At the local level, disparities in capacities to access and benefit from climate information and services and the potential for climate information to take on political implications when attached to specific advice pose challenges to the legitimacy of climate information and services development. 4) IK was seen as being particularly important to decision-making at local levels, where it gains its credibility through the long-term observations it is based on, as well as the experience that communities already have working with this knowledge. Incorporating IK within climate services development is necessary to enhance the legitimacy of the processes and the applicability of the knowledge that is generated to local decision-making, but there are a number of challenges to incorporating scientific and indigenous knowledges. The findings highlight that improving user satisfaction with climate services will be a long-term process that requires capacity building among producers, intermediaries, and users at all levels, particularly to promote innovation in delivery, communication, and tailoring of climate services products. Developing knowledge that is salient, credible, and legitimate in particular decision-making contexts will also require long-term collaboration, as well as transparency about the strengths and limitations of scientific information and open dialogue about the various ways in which stakeholders at different scales assess the credibility of climate information. Based on the analysis, the authors put forward twelve recommendations to improve user satisfaction with climate information and services in Tanzania in the future.

This report is an output of the Global Framework for Climate Services Adaptation Programme in Africa. The goal of the report is to: 1) assess the extent to which climate change concerns have been integrated or mainstreamed into national policy documents in mainland Tanzania, 2) to consider the role of climate services in achieving national sectorial policy goals, and 3) identify entry points for the further development of climate services within the current policy frameworks. Fifteen key policy documents relevant to economic development, climate change and environment, agriculture and food security, disaster management and risk reduction, and health planning were analysed. Three major findings emerged from this analysis. First, while climate change is addressed in a number of the policy documents, the concept of climate services was not. Second, policy documents across all sectors identified improved early warning systems as a specific objective. This represents a common entry point for development and delivery of climate services, as well as an opportunity to increase cross-sectorial adaptation coordination and planning. Third, the analysis highlighted that efforts to manage short- and long-term climate risks are not well integrated under current policies and legislation in Tanzania. Additionally, we found that the National Environmental Policy and National Environmental Management Act are the primary policy documents that oversee climate change-related issues. It will be important to link the development and delivery of climate services with the established institutional structures for climate change adaptation under these current policies and legislation, to avoid creating isolated or duplicative institutional arrangements. Based on these findings, several recommendations are made that can inform climate services development and delivery in Tanzania.

This report is an output of the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) Adaptation Programme in Africa. The goal of the report is to describe and assess the current institutional landscape for development and delivery of climate services in Tanzania and to suggest pathways for leveraging current opportunities, as well as for addressing current institutional barriers, to enable improved production, access, and use of climate services in Tanzania. This report is based on a review of relevant policy documents and grey literature, focus group discussions with communities in Longido and Kiteto Districts, and key informant interviews with selected policy-makers, authorities, and non-governmental actors at national and district levels involved in the fields of agriculture and food security, health, and disaster risk reduction and management. The report findings suggest that there are four major institutional challenges to the delivery of usable climate services across institutional scales in Tanzania: 1) potential mismatches between national institutional arrangements and legal mandates, 2) limited technical, financial, and human resources, 3) lack of sufficient mechanisms to facilitate systematic flows of information between government agencies, both vertically and horizontally, and 4) limited specialized climate change knowledge and expertise within government structures. Recommendations are made for addressing these challenges