International experts from five continents will share key developments in sustainable agriculture and food security in the face of climate change
San José, 23 April 2018 (IICA). An international event will bring together close to 150 scientists, researchers, technical specialists, and decision-makers at the headquarters of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), in San José, Costa Rica, starting April 24. Participants will learn about new developments in state-of-the-art tools and methodologies that can assist countries in addressing the challenges facing the agricultural sector, such as climate change adaptation planning, mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, and fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals.
The event, known as the Seventh AgMIP Global Workshop, is being organized by the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) together with IICA. This will be the first time it is held in a Latin American country.
Since its creation in 2010, AgMIP has focused its work on understanding how agriculture and food security are vulnerable to global changes as well as how agricultural systems will respond to climate change and other socioeconomic factors in the years ahead. AgMIP therefore connects experts, models, scales, scenarios, computational systems, and methods of analysis to enable integrated assessment and the development of tools to support science-based decision making.
“The organization of this event fills the need for strengthening strategic partnerships that contribute to linking research and public policies. This bridge between science and politics is critical in order to boost the capacity of countries to design and implement robust sectoral policies that bring the agriculture sector closer to sustainability and resilience,” stated Daniela Medina, IICA Specialist in Agriculture and Climate Change.
Participants at this international event will gain access to cutting-edge information on the types of scenarios that will be of greatest interest for future climate and sustainability assessments. They will also have an opportunity to interact with world experts in agricultural models and to learn how model evidence helps guide applications to specific challenges faced by agrarian communities around the world, among other things.
“This is a unique opportunity for researchers and decision-makers to interact with scientists from different parts of the world and to learn more about the new approach and tools developed by AgMIP to conduct comprehensive assessments of the impacts of climate change and adaptation efforts, as well as the use of these results in planning and in the establishment of priorities for decision-making and investments in research and development,” stated Roberto Valdivia, a researcher at Oregon State University and Co-Leader of the AgMIP Regional Economics Team.
Valdivia added that the workshop also generates opportunities for the analysis of regional plans within the context of global market, economic and resource management trends, as well as strategies for reducing vulnerabilities, in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
More information:
Daniela Medina, Specialist in Agriculture and Climate Change at IICA.
Erik Alejandro Mencos, Project Coordinator at AgMIP.