Bridging the usability gap: Enhancing climate risk communication through E-newsletter

Despite advancements in climate warning systems, significant “usability gaps” persist in translating scientific information into actionable insights for policymakers and local communities. These gaps arise from discrepancies between what scientists provide and what end-users find applicable for decision-making. This study aims to bridge these gaps by developing an E-newsletter, which is conceived as an educational and informational decision-support tool that links climate scientists and meteorologists (senders) with government and non-government decision-makers (primary recipients) to support the development of locally relevant adaptation and mitigation policies. A key enhancement to the framework is the explicit integration of “Access” as a core dimension alongside usability and relevance. This recognizes infrastructural, connectivity, and literacy barriers that can limit the engagement with climate information. The research proposes multi-modal dissemination strategies to overcome these limitations, enabling benefits to both primary and secondary audiences. For this, we conducted a survey of 111 officials across diverse government and non-government sectors in 17 cities and 20 states of India. The survey explored: a) their understanding of climate risks in their regions and sectors; b) the type of information needed to design effective mitigation and adaptation plans; c) their evaluation of existing communication channels (e.g., newsletters) based on content, quality, timeliness, effectiveness, and usability; and d) their preferences for the design and content of E-newsletters tailored to support risk mitigation and adaptation. Findings revealed a strong preference for E-newsletters featuring regional case studies, content in regional languages, and visual aids such as images, graphs, and figures. Based on these insights, we developed an E-newsletter template, with special emphasis on layout, design, and key features. It can enhance the usability of climate information, aiding regional and local-scale mitigation, adaptation, and risk reduction efforts.