Research Article
This study introduces an Adaptive & Aggregated Intel-ligence (AAI) framework to enhance the operational S2S-based heatwave prediction across India. The AAI framework post-processes raw S2S (real-time sets) outputs, significantly improving temperature anomaly pre-dictions associated with heatwaves.
Blog Post
In 2025 and 2026, LODESTAR organised multiple Living Labs in Dordrecht, the Netherlands, and in Guwahati and Bengaluru, India. These cities face significant flood risks in their own ways: where in Guwahati and Bengaluru floods are a recurring reality, in Dordrecht the occurrence of large-scale floods – whilst currently unlikely – will become increasingly inevitable as climate change escalates. Across these diverse contexts, existing warning and response systems leave much to desire and the Living Labs revealed both contrasting realities and surprisingly similar concerns.
Living Lab
LODESTAR's first Living Lab on drought early warning was conducted in Ananthapuramu at the Accion Fraterna Ecology Center on 9 May 2026. The event brought together 11 farmers, including four women farmers; government officials from the Agriculture Research Centre, Rekalkunta, and Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Reddipalli; and representatives from several non-governmental organisations (NGOs), including AF Ecology Centre, Rural & Environment Development Society (REDS, Kadiri), Human & Natural Resource Development Society (HANDS), and Watershed Support Services & Activities Network (WASSAN). To facilitate the engagement of all stakeholders, a serious game on drought events was introduced, featuring four drought events each for farmers, NGOs, and government stakeholders. The event cards were designed to reflect real-world drought scenarios, capturing not only the functioning of the district’s drought early warning mechanism but also how farmers respond to such warnings. This interactive approach enabled participants to explore the drought early warning process and the responses of different stakeholders in a participatory setting.
Living Lab
On 21 February 2026, CSTEP held a Living Lab on urban flooding in GD Layout, Vidyaranyapura, Bengaluru. The objective was to bring together multiple stakeholders (residents, government agencies, and researchers) in a shared space to discuss their experiences with urban flooding, understand challenges on the ground, and jointly explore practical solutions, with a focus on building a simple, low-cost early warning system that everyone can access and use. Accordingly, using a serious game-based activity, 25 participants—including residents, civil defence members, water experts, and researchers—engaged in structured discussions on flood risks and response. Insights highlighted residents as first responders, fatigue from SMS warnings, the need to safeguard electricity systems, and the mental strain of recurring floods, underscoring the importance of grounded, community-informed disaster planning.
Living Lab
This living lab, titled “Warned together” (“Gezamenlijk gewaarschuwd”), built on the previous one, conducted in September 2025, bringing together the same group of Turkish-Dutch residents with Dutch water and disaster experts as well as municipal representatives, this time hosted at Dordrecht city hall.
Living Lab
In this living lab, titled “From Dialogue to Preparedness”, members from a Turkish-Dutch immigrant community met with municipality representatives to establish a first collective dialogue around the themes of flood risk, warning communication and preparedness for the city of Dordrecht.
Living Lab
Early warning can truly reach everyone at the right time and impact through citizen-centric discussions and collective effort.
Living Lab
Early warnings are only effective when it reaches everyone. Women's inclusion and representation is a necessity; not an option.
Webinar
Koen Lassauw, an external speaker from the Netherlands’ Safety Region administration, shared insights on the technological and governance dimensions of developing an early warning dashboard for dike breaches. He highlighted data integration, real-time monitoring, inter-agency coordination, and policy frameworks essential for enhancing flood preparedness and emergency response across regions.