Climate Information Services (CISs) have significant potential to empower decision-makers in taking climate-smart actions and reducing the impacts of water and climate-related risks. These provide timely and relevant information, derived from sub-seasonal to seasonal forecasts to support early warning of droughts, floods, heatwaves, and water scarcity, as well as longer-term climate projections to support adaptation planning and management. Substantial advances have been made in recent decades in sub-seasonal to seasonal forecasting and climate modelling, and integrating these into global and regional CISs, ranging from natural hazard early warning systems (EWSs) to platforms, dashboards, and mobile applications that support sector-specific decisions in agriculture, water resources, energy, tourism, and transportation.
Despite these advances, challenges remain in crossing the "last mile"—ensuring the uptake and use of CISs by end-users. Barriers include limited understanding of user needs and decision-making processes, insufficient recognition of local and traditional knowledge, and gaps in co-creation with users. Research increasingly shows that more human-centred approaches and stronger engagement with local stakeholders can enhance the credibility, salience, and legitimacy of services, leading to greater preparedness and adaptation.
This session provides a platform to showcase grounded research and innovative developments in CISs that advance early warning and decision support across hazards and sectors. We welcome contributions on the co-creation of CISs, integration of local and scientific knowledge, development of multi-hazard EWSs, Decision Support Systems, dashboards, and sector-specific applications (e.g., farmer support apps). We particularly encourage abstracts presenting concrete cases where CISs are integrated into real-world decision-making processes across management or livelihood systems, demonstrating how information from (sub)-seasonal forecasts and climate predictions directly shapes choices, actions and outcomes. Contributions may include action-based, multi-disciplinary research showing tangible impacts through improved uptake of advance warning, enhanced decision-making, better preparedness for climate extremes, or clear links to policy and governance processes. The session aims to facilitate knowledge exchange among scientists, practitioners, and users to foster more effective, inclusive, and adaptive climate information services.