18.12.2023

The DIRECTED Project is developing a taxonomy of terminologies used by local communities for climate risk and resilience, improving the ‘Connectivity Hub’ developed by the Stockholm Environment Institute

directed-project-Image 18 12 2023 at 13.50

The DIRECTED (Disaster resilience for extreme climate events through improved data accessibility, communication and risk governance) project is developing an open-source taxonomy informed by conversations with local stakeholders in real-world lab settings. Co-exploring local perceptions of risk and governance will provide useful insights into the types of terminology used to describe risk and resilience as well as the perspectives arising across different locations and contexts. We are being helped to do this using, and further development of a ‘Connectivity Hub’, being innovated by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI)

The Connectivity Hub aims to help climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR) communities work together. SEI and partners are now taking steps to enhance this high-tech search-and-discovery tool to help people in these two related fields find potential synergies and communicate more effectively with one another.

As the impacts of climate change become more evident, adaptation and disaster risk are attracting more and more urgent attention. People across the world are searching for accurate, up-to-date information about ways to adapt to the impacts of climate change and to take steps to limit the level of risk of climate-related disasters.

Though there is a vast amount of information online, most resources are fragmented. The situation only reinforces the prevailing absence of coordination and the tendency for people in one field to confine their work to a given silo, rather than interacting with people in other fields to gain new perspectives and insights, and to coordinate where possible.

How can people working on climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction find the information they want – or information they may be unaware of but may find useful? How can they be sure that such information is up-to-date, accurate and applicable to their situation? How can they learn from one another’s work?

The Connectivity Hub, a unique search-and-discovery tool seeks to address these needs. The hub was designed to connect data and resources to address and solve part of this coordination and collaboration puzzle. Leveraging tools, such as taxonomies and knowledge graphs, the hub creates a shared understanding of language and terminology used across different domains and platforms – and a place for people who use this information to connect.

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The Connectivity Hub – Stockholm Environment Institute

Try the Connectivity Hub here: Connectivity Hub

Reducing fragmentation of information

The Connectivity Hub, is part of the wider European Union project, the PLAtform for Climate Adaptation and Risk reduction (PLACARD), which aims to be the recognized platform for dialogue, knowledge exchange and collaboration between the climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR) communities. The PLACARD interchange seeks to provide direction to research, policy and practices that can strengthen cooperation and counter fragmentation between these two related communities.

The Connectivity Hub is designed to provide a highly visual, interactive and comprehensive overview of potentially related issues addressed by these two research and practice communities. A search through the hub can:

  • generate a dynamic and interactive online visualization of the landscape of relevant organizations and activities that connect climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction knowledge networks.
  • create a cluster of information by sector, decision focus, geographical scope and risk  ̶  with an emphasis on key messages and lessons learned.
  • guide users to content that helps them find relevant evidence, expertise, tools and methods, and good practice insights, and to make contact with organizations and peers at work on related issues.

Advancing the Connectivity Hub’s scope

Capacities of the Connectivity Hub are also being advanced the Horizon Europe project:

The MAIA (Maximising impact and accessibility of European climate research) project is reviewing existing taxonomies and vocabularies focusing on climate change and disaster risk to explore how they can add value to one another and fill knowledge gaps. This will refine and expand the connections in the Hub, helping users to discover more information and organizations relevant to their work. MAIA is using a machine-learning approach to analyse selected EU project documents for keywords. This will help

  • maximize the relevance of MAIA taxonomy topic areas and scope
  • ensure that existing climate research is accurately described and connected together
  • facilitate the planned input of further climate adaptation and mitigation projects into the Connectivity Hub.

MAIA and DIRECTED will also provide opportunities to test the accuracy and usability of the MAIA taxonomy. Once the taxonomy has been further developed and its scope narrowed, expert consultations will be undertaken to ensure that the terminology and semantic relationships are accurate. The clarity of terms and their definitions will also be tested with stakeholders in the real-world labs. These tests will help maximize the widespread applicability of the taxonomy.

“The increasing ability to harness data and to repurpose it in innovative, visually powerful ways provides new avenues for learning from existing initiatives, and for accelerating the bridging of science to action”, said SEI Senior Research Fellow Sukaina Bharwani, who leads the project.

For more information look at this video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/bADVPCbLHS0

For more information about the Connectivity Hub contact:  kate.williamson@sei.org or sukaina.bharwani@sei.org