AgMIP Becomes Co-convener of GACSA Knowledge Action Group
Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP), led by Dr. Cynthia Rosenzweig, has assumed the role of co-convener of the knowledge action group. AgMIP replaces FAO, whose two year term expired at the end of 2016.
About AgMIP
AgMIP is a major international collaborative effort to improve the state of agricultural simulation and to understand climate impacts on the agricultural sector at global and regional scales.
AgMIP Objectives
• Improve agricultural models based on their intercomparison and evaluation using high-qual- ity global and regional data and best scienti c practices, and document improvements for use in integrated assessments.
• Incorporate state-of-the-art climate, crop/ livestock, and agricultural economic model im- provements with stakeholder input into coordi- nated multi-model regional and global assess- ments of climate impacts and adaptation and of other key aspects of food systems.
• Utilize multiple models, scenarios, locations, crops/livestock, and participants to explore uncertainty and the effects of data and method- ological choices.
• Collaborate with regional experts in agronomy, animal sciences, economics, and climate to build a strong basis for model applications, addressing key climate-related questions, adaptation priori- ties, and sustainable intensi cation.
• Improve scienti c and adaptive capacity in modeling for major agricultural regions in the developing and developed world, with a focus on vulnerable regions.
• Develop modeling frameworks to facilitate data-sharing and to identify and evaluate prom- ising adaptation technologies and policies and to prioritize strategies.
AgMIP Focus Areas
1. Next Generation Knowledge, Data, and Tools to improve projections of the systems, processes, and metrics needed to support effective decision making.
2. Coordinated Global and Regional Assessments of climate change impacts on agriculture and food secu- rity to consistently project the future implications of current investment and policy decisions around the world.
3. Modeling Sustainable Farming Systems to identify and prioritize transformations toward more sustainable agricultural systems while recognizing the potential for unforeseen socio-economic consequences.
Get to Know Dr. Cynthia Rosenzweig
Dr. Cynthia Rosenzweig is a Senior Research Scientist at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. At GISS, she heads the Climate Impacts Group whose mission is to investigate the interactions of climate (both variability and change) on systems and sectors important to human well-being. She is also Senior Research Scientist at Columbia University’s Center for Climate Systems Research and Professor in the Department of Environmental Science at Barnard College.
A recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, Dr. Rosenzweig's primary research involves the development of interdisciplinary methodologies by which to assess the potential impacts of and adaptations to global environmental change. Recognizing that the complex interactions engendered by global environmental change can best be understood by coordinated teams of experts, Dr. Rosenzweig has organized and led large-scale interdisciplinary, national, and international studies of climate change impacts and adaptation in rural and urban settings. She is the co-founder of the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP), a major international collaboration to improve global agricultural modeling, understand climate impacts on the agricultural sector, and enhance adaptation capacity in developing and developed countries. She was Coordinating Lead Author on observed climate change impacts for the IPCC Working Group II Fourth Assessment Report and is Co-Chair of the New York City Panel on Climate Change, a body of experts convened by the Mayor to advise the city on adaptation. She was named as one of Nature’s “Ten People Who Mattered in 2012”.