• Energy Research

Current changes in the field of agriculture (e.g., food shortages, market globalization, and environmental concerns) are encouraging stakeholders to consider new and more sustainable production methods. To this end, tools are needed to assess the newly designed solutions, before taking them to the field (ex ante assessment), or after being implemented by farmers or by researchers on experimental sites (ex post assessment). MASC is a multi-criteria assessment tool designed to assess the performance of cropping systems in terms of their sustainability. It is based on a decision support system (DEXi) and aggregates 39 qualitative evaluation criteria arranged in a tree-like structure. In this paper, we present a case study involving farmers from Normandy (north-western France). MASC was used in a participatory approach with thesefarmers who were already working on reducing pesticide use. The overall performance of the different farmer’s cropping systems was evaluated. In comparison to similar models, MASC allowed the farmers to become involved in determining the weights allocated to different criteria, thereby enabling them to introduce their personal vision of sustainability into parameter settings. Moreover, rather than assessing at the farm or landscape scale, MASC made it possible to exchange and collectively work on the concept of sustainability at the field scale. In addition, the results provided by the model were collectively examined in order to identify the strengths and weaknesses as well as propose improvements on the assessed cropping systems.

Scenario-based approaches in environmental and policy assessment studies are increasingly applied within integrated assessment and modelling frameworks. The SEAMLESS project develops such an integrated framework (SEAMLESS-IF) aiming to assess, ex-ante, impacts of alternative agro-environmental policies on the sustainability of agricultural systems. A particular challenge in this context is the consistent translation of a wide range of policy questions into scenarios that a modelling framework can assess. The present work defines a methodology for scenario-development in integrated policy assessment with specific emphasis on SEAMLESS-IF. After a general overview on scenario concepts for integrated policy assessment the adopted scenario concept and its development procedure is presented. They allow building integrated scenarios capturing the range of drivers of the assessed agricultural system in a consistent way across temporal and spatial scales. Then focus is on the particular procedures to translate the policy assessment questions into scenario parameters and to implement these parameters into SEAMLESS-IF. Two examples targeted at European and regional level combining integrated assessments of policy changes and technological innovations are considered to illustrate the SEAMLESS scenario concept. We conclude that the proposed methodology to translate policy assessment problems into scenarios effectively supports integrated assessment in SEAMLESS-IF or even in other modelling frameworks

Adaptation de l’agriculture irriguee au changement climatique (aicha) : une modelisation trans-disciplinaire d’un bassin-versant en inde du sud. 10. Colloque Modèle de culture STICS

AICHA : un modele integre pour l’etude de l’impact du changement climatique sur les eaux souterraines d’un petit bassin versant indien. 10. Colloque Modèle de culture STICS

Groundwater irrigation is essential to sustain food production, and aquifer depletion represents a major sustainability challenge for humanity. There is a need for adequate modelling tools to assess the impacts of farming practices on groundwater resources with policy-makers and farmers in different contexts, especially in the case of smallholder farms in the tropics. We introduce the NIRAVARI model, which was designed to represent the Indian farming and water resource context. NIRAVARI is a parsimonious model integrating biophysical and decisional processes dealing with the farming system and the water table processes. A specific focus is given to how to irrigate with multiple water resources. Its formalisms include equations from well-tested published models for soil moisture and plant water stress simulations. The programming and graphic user interface is based on Excel VBA. We illustrate the ability of NIRAVARI to simulate a broad range of farmer adaptation strategies using four scenarios of cropping systems and water resources policies, and therefore, its interest for participatory scenario design and assessment with stakeholders.

Climate change threatens the sustainability of agriculture and natural resources. Adaptive solutions must be designed locally with stakeholders. We developed the Approach for Building Adaptation Scenarios with Stakeholders (ABASS), which aims to identify adaptation policies and corresponding scenarios of natural resource management in the context of climate change. Its originality is the combination of different existing participatory methods, organized in three phases. In step 1, experts identify local environmental problems on a map and build the assumption tree of local climate change effects. In step 2, experts identify stakeholders. Step 3 leads to the construction of adaptation scenarios with stakeholders in two phases. First, in a participatory workshop gathering numerous stakeholders, the assumption tree is presented to help stakeholders identify potential policies that address the effects of climate change. Then, using the map produced in step 1, each group of stakeholders separately translates each potential policy into a detailed scenario. We applied ABASS to the context of groundwater overexploitation in South India. Two policies at the farm level emerged as consensual: (i) ponds to harvest runoff water and (ii) drip irrigation to conserve water; but their implementation highlights the differences of opinion among stakeholders.