Despite availability of information, technical know-how and financial resources people often do not take sufficient countermeasures to become resilient to climate change consequences and related weather extremes. Strategic narratives, that are stories used to induce particular behavioural patterns, can help to overcome that problem. Cognitive psychology and neuroscience confirm that human brains can better process stories than data or explanatory texts. Stories are also capable of inducing “mental simulations” in which people experience the feelings of story character(s). Feelings and emotions, in turn, are known to particularly effective motivate people to act.

Constructing successful strategic narratives is, however, a very challenging task. PLACARD Recipe Book provides a compact overview of all “rules” needed to construct effective strategic narratives for climate change adaptation (CCA) and distaster risk reduction (DRR). Our recipebook is based on the results of a series of narrative PLACARD workshops with participation of practitioners and recognized scholars and extensive desktop research.