Communicating and Using Seasonal Climate Forecasts: a Challenge Crossing National, Organizational, and Disciplinary Boundaries

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The papers in this special issue come from the project "Bridging the gap between seasonal climate forecasts (SCFs) and agricultural decisionmakers in the Philippines and Australia" funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). In addition to national and organizational boundaries, the project also crossed disciplinary boundaries. The papers focus on the smaller but growing field on the interface between climate forecasts and decisionmaking. The challenge of bridging the gap between SCF and decisionmaking is simply one of better communication. There is no doubt that communicating and using SCFs in real world decisionmaking is not easy. However, given the challenges of producing more food in a variable and changing climate, risk management has never been more important. The papers in this issue detail the basis of SCF in the Philippines and a range of processes whereby this information can be used to work with decisionmakers to improve their risk management.