Linking adaptation and DRR – the PLACARD Connectivity Hub

The PLACARD Connectivity Hub is a new “search and discovery” tool that helps planners, decision-makers, researchers, policymakers, students, and interested citizens to find knowledge and organisations working on climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR) issues.

What is the Hub’s purpose?

The Hub is designed to link people with the knowledge they need and avoid redundancy and replication. The Hub helps you find information that you may not know exists, and to find it quickly and easily.

How is the Hub different from other search engines?

The Hub provides a highly visual, interactive, and comprehensive overview of knowledge on CCA and DRR, and links to the people producing this knowledge. Its searches rely on terminology and keywords that are carefully curated for CCA and DRR communities. Making these fine-tuned searches possible is a new PLACARD glossary that includes definitions of commonly used terms by using taxonomies for CCA and DRR. The glossary supports the discovery of new projects, organisations and individuals with key expertise. The Hub provides:

• Dynamic and interactive visualisations of organisations, activities, and information that bridge topic-specific CCA and DRR knowledge networks.
• Content (including articles, projects, and organisations) to help users find relevant evidence, expertise, peers, tools, methods, and good practice insights.

Why are these differences important?

Despite the overwhelming wealth of information available, there is a significant gap between research, policy, and action. Many, separate and unlinked activities take place in parallel and in “silos” that do not connect with one another, leading to wasted talent, energy, and opportunities. We created the Connectivity Hub to generate synergies, open dialogues, and to foster collaboration and learning.

What organizations are involved with the Hub?

PLACARD, (the PLAtform for Climate Adaptation and Risk reDuction) created the Connectivity Hub, which is designed and led by the Stockholm Environment Institute. The Hub links data from several European and global CCA and DRR platforms, including:

• Climate-ADAPT, the European Climate Adaptation Platform;
• PreventionWeb, the knowledge-sharing program of the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster REduction (UNISDR);
• Eldis, a knowledge-sharing platform on development issues, and BRIDGE, a specialized gender and development research and information service, both hosted by the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex; and
• weADAPT, the global climate adaptation platform and network of the Stockholm Environment Institute.