Sector-Based Climate Services for Water Resources

This project aims to co-develop climate information products that support water resource management in China’s Yellow River Basin and the South-North Water Transfer Project, focusing on annual to multi-decadal timescales. Leveraging expertise in climate science, hydrology, and participatory and co-production design, the project team collaborates with the UK Met Office, China Meteorological Administration, and other CSSP China partners.

Outputs will include decision-relevant tools such as drought indices and streamflow projections. The first phase involves assessing user needs through semi-structured interviews with decision-makers managing the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers and the South-North Water Transfer Project. These interviews will explore planning horizons, current use of climate data, unmet information needs, and communication preferences. Thematic analysis will identify key climate variables, decision contexts, and gaps in existing climate services.

Next, the project will reconcile user needs with scientific capabilities. Recognising that some desired information may exceed current scientific limits, a reconciliation workshop will bring together scientists, hydrologists, and stakeholders to evaluate which water management challenges can be addressed using existing or tailored climate data. In the final phase, climate information prototypes will be co-developed using an iterative, user-centred approach. Participatory methods—such as workshops, interviews, and surveys—will guide the prototype design process.

A communication specialist will ensure the outputs are accessible and relevant. The effectiveness of the prototypes will be evaluated based on their ability to support real-world decision-making. This collaborative, interdisciplinary approach ensures that the prototypes effectively demonstrate how climate data on annual to multi-decadal timescales can support long-term water resource management.

Impact

Prototypes developed by the project were showcased as one of the demonstrators in the CSSP-China projects; visit: https://www.viewpoint-cssp.org/home and select "Water Resource Management" from the "Demonstrators" drop-down menu.

Publications and outputs

Prototype version 1  

Prototype version 3

Khosravi F, Taylor A, Siu YL. 2021. Chinese water managers’ long-term climate information needs. Science of the Total Environment. 750. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141637 

Willis T, Siu YL, Taylor A, Dessai S, Su B, Jiang T, Turner A, Griffiths G, Rostron J. 2024. An integrated climate and water resource climate service prototype for long term water allocation in the Upper Yellow River Region of China. Climate Services. 33 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cliser.2023.100445