In what ways is the digital entering climate adaptation? What actors are pushing for the digitalisation of adaptation, and in what sectors? Are digital solutions economically sustainable, or are we ‘only’ seeing a phase of hype which will not last long?
Which epistemologies are represented /erased digital climate services, who is included in/excluded from their design? What are the promises and risks of digital climate adaptation? What determines whether digitalisation leads to more inclusive and effective adaptation practices, or to forms of ‘data colonialism’ and ‘accumulation adaptation’?
And, importantly, how does ‘digitalised adaptation’ look like in practice?
In order to explore these questions, Digital Climate Futures has carried out a global mapping of digital platforms for climate services and resilience, documenting how the digital is entering global adaptation policy discourses and initiatives, identifying key sectors of applications, technologies and narratives, as well as actors and coalitions.
We have carried out a structured analysis of academic and grey literature and conducted interviews with experts (scholars across social sciences and STEM, practitioners at local and international level, digital entrepreneurs, coders/modellers).
We have created a database of examples of climate adaptation projects including a significant digital component. Projects are categorised under 8 sectors (Agriculture & Food Security; Conservation, Forestry, Biodiversity; Disaster Risk Reduction & Management; Education, Capacity Building, Awareness; Energy; Gender & Social Inclusion; Health; Migration; Tourism; Urban & Rural Settlements; Water & Sanitation) and located along various domains of the data value chain.
While manuscripts presenting these findings are in preparation, we have made available a summary of this work via the Open–access repository below.
We are continuing to update the database – please get in touch if you would like to suggest us any project to add.