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Table 1 High and poor quality climate information services

From: Climate information services, integrated knowledge systems and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

In the context of this discussion, high quality climate services are characterised by climate information products and dissemination channels that are perceived by targeted users to be legitimate, credible and salient, and hence usable. Credibility refers to trustworthiness, reliability and dependability of the climate service. A legitimate climate service is one that is transparent, open and free from political persuasion or bias, whilst a salient climate service is one that is context specific and sensitive to users’ demands vis-à-vis spatial, ecological, temporal and administrative scales [18]. A high quality climate service is one that is also equally accessible to and easy to use for all targeted users regardless of class, literacy levels or language. On the other hand, a poor quality climate service is one that is not perceived to be credible, salient and legitimate by all the targeted users, and that is not easily accessible to and user-friendly for all social groups.