This document highlights recent advances in the use of climate information to manage risks and improve livelihoods, such as new partnerships and user-designed information platforms. It draws together and analyzes experiences from 17 case studies that capture the current state of knowledge and highlights research innovations. A problemsolving framework is used to demonstrate the challenges and opportunities facing disaster risk managers in using climate science. Recommendations include: * effective partnership is the single most critical ingredient for success * efforts to better apply climate information in disaster risk management should first focus on immediate opportunities and potential ‘quick wins’ * climate information providers such as national meteorological services must tailor their information to the problem at hand (by refining products through interaction with partners or by simplifying the presentation)