Climate Risk Informed Decision Analysis (CRIDA) Program is Planning Ahead

During the week of June 12, 2023, a strategic planning session on Climate Risk Informed Decision Analysis (CRIDA) was held at Deltares, in Delft, Netherlands. Attending the meeting were water resources professionals from Deltares, IHE (Institute for Water Education) Delft, ICIWaRM (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers), the University of Cincinnati and UNESCO-IHP.

Climate Risk Informed Decision Analysis (CRIDA) is a framework for integrating climate change considerations in water resources planning and management. It does so by identifying vulnerabilities associated with wide range of plausible future climate, and formulating flexible and robust adaptation strategies that mitigate directly against those vulnerabilities.   The methodology has been applied in at least 25 studies in 22 countries around the world.  

The purpose of the meeting was to identify and discuss CRIDA developments and short (2023), medium (2024-2025), and long-term (2026-2029) tasks under the UNESCO CRIDA programme. These tasks were organized by: (1) research and development, (2) publication and dissemination, (3) implementation of pilot projects, (4) training and capacity building, (5) develop and support a community of practice, and (6) development of a CRIDA facility.  

In total 48 tasks were identified under the five UNESCO CRIDA programme activities.  Much of the meeting was devoted to discussing the tasks, their categorization under the UNESCO CRIDA programme, evaluating their feasibility and defining the technical approach for R&D and pilot project related tasks. Next steps include identifying which tasks are possible given funding and other constraints; prioritizing tasks; identifying deliverables; and scheduling dates for the beginning and end of the tasks.