Making climate-resilient planning and adaptation decisions is, in part, contingent on the use of climate information. Growing attention has been paid to the “usability gap” and the need to make information both useful and useable to decision-makers. Less attention has, however, been paid to the factors that determine whether, once created, useful and useable information is then actually used. In this Perspectives piece, we outline a framework that puts together the pieces necessary to close the “usability gap” – highlighting not only what is required to make information useful and useable, but also what is required to ensure that useful and useable information is actually used. Creating useful information is subject to understanding and being able to deliver metrics that address identified needs in a range of decision-making contexts. Creating useable information requires legitimate and credible information that is visualised and communicated in ways that are accessible and understandable. The framework highlights traditionally under-recognized enablers necessary to promote effective use of the growing availability of useful and useable climate information in decision-making; supportive institutions, appropriate policy frameworks, capacity of individuals and agency to make decisions. Whilst this is not enough in itself to effect information use, we argue that greater focus on these enablers can re-balance the activities promoted through climate services and increase the likelihood of successful use. We illustrate the framework with case examples of co-producing climate information for the tea and water sectors in sub-Saharan Africa.

制定适应气候变化的计划和适应性决策部分取决于使用气候信息。人们越来越关注“可用性差距”以及使信息对决策者有用和可用的需求。但是，人们很少关注那些确定一旦创建后便实际使用有用和可用信息的因素。在此“观点”部分中，我们概述了一个框架，该框架汇总了弥合“可用性差距”所需的部分–不仅着重说明了使信息变得有用和可用的要求，还强调了确保真正有用和有用的信息所需的要求。用过的。创建有用的信息需要理解并能够提供指标，以解决一系列决策环境中已确定的需求。创建可用信息需要以可访问和可理解的方式可视化和交流的合法和可信信息。该框架强调了传统上未被充分认识的促成因素，这些促成因素是在决策过程中促进有效利用日益增多的有用和可利用的气候信息的必要条件；支持机构，适当的政策框架，个人和机构的决策能力。尽管这本身不足以影响信息的使用，但我们认为，更多地关注这些推动因素可以重新平衡通过气候服务促进的活动，并增加成功使用信息的可能性。我们以共同生产撒哈拉以南非洲茶和水部门的气候信息为例，说明了该框架。