The ALBATROSS partners at the Technical University Dortmund have laid the conceptual, methodological and preliminary data groundwork for the development of the ALBATROSS model. The model, one of the main ALBATROSS outcomes, will ultimately be a comprehensive framework for assessing and visualizing spatial climate risks through a combination of scientific analyses and practical, user-friendly tools. It aims to support decision-making by providing actionable insights into current and future climate risks for stakeholders in the project’s hubs.

The ALBATROSS model aims to bridge the gap between science-driven analysis and practical application by combining advanced risk assessment methodologies with intuitive visualization tools. It will empower stakeholders to understand climate risks comprehensively and decide about effective strategies for sustainable adaptation and risk reduction in vulnerable regions. The ALBATROSS model will integrate two key components: the ALBATROSS Model Risk Assessment, which systematically evaluates hazards, exposure, and vulnerability, and the ALBATROSS Model User Tool, an interactive online dashboard that dynamically visualizes results of the risk assessment. Thus, the model will enable stakeholders and decision-makers to better manage and possibly reduce risks.

However, before immersing in the development and implementation of the mentioned tool, the ALBATROSS partners have presented the basic methodological framework of the model, outlining the expected results and describing the key steps in its implementation. The objective is “to demonstrate the functionalities and benefits of the ALBATROSS Model Risk Assessment and the ALBATROSS Model User Tool, both for the scientific partners in the project and for the practice partners and stakeholders in the various real- world hubs across Sub-Sahara Africa”, they stated.

A risk assessment for climate risks is a comprehensive and systematic process that aims to identify, evaluate and prioritize the risks caused by climate change and extreme weather events. This process involves several steps: First, potential climatic hazards such as floods, cyclones, droughts or heatwaves are identified. This is followed by an assessment of the vulnerability of systems and communities to these hazards and an analysis of the probability and potential impact of such events. The risk assessment takes into account both the physical aspects of climate change as well as social, economic and environmental factors. Data sources to feed these categories will be both already existing geographical data and analyses, and results coming from other tasks in the ALBATROSS project, which are still being developed by the project research partners.