MOSAICC: An inter-disciplinary system of models to evaluate the impact of climate change on agriculture.

Abstract

ABSTRACT Climate change potentially threatens the livelihood of many people who depend on local food production. Information from different disciplines has become an essential to estimate and predict the impact of climate change on local food production. However, data is often scattered and specifically focused on one scientific domain. Therefore, the FAO in partnership with European research institutes developed a web-based interactive toolbox (called MOSAICC) which integrates climate scenarios with crop growth simulations, hydrological modeling and economic predictions on a national level. In the first (alfa) version of the toolbox, all models are interconnected in terms of input and output, and can be accessed through a web interface. The models are chosen because of their generic nature and low data requirements. However, the toolbox needs testing, as not all questions regarding the model use and integration have been addressed yet. The real innovation of the overall project lies in the socio-technical integration and contextualization of domain-specific information in an interactive learning process of the different users. The toolbox should be regarded as a common pool of knowledge, accessible by all stakeholders (e.g. scientists, policy makers and civilians) as an integral part of an interactive, participative and interdisciplinary decision making process regarding e.g. land-use planning or climate mitigation measures. Therefore, the MOSAICC toolbox is a novel, agile and versatile adaptive management support systems, combining state-of-the-art technologies with aimed at empowerment and participation