MAC-B: Mitigation and Adaptation Co-Benefits Modelling trial in Bangladesh

DESCRIPTION: We will adapt the AgMIP (Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project) Regional Integrated Assessment (RIA) approach that has been implemented across SubSaharan Africa and South Asia (published protocols available at www.agmip.org). The method links climate-crop/livestock-socioeconomic data, models and tools in order to assess the impacts of agricultural interventions, climate change, and other adaptation strategies. The framework of the method is novel in that it can also be used to conduct ‘simulation experiments’ to understand sustainable rice system options including locally adapted components of management interventions (e.g., diversified farming systems) to conditions that are either resource intensive (e.g., testing multiple cultivars, inputs, or changes in policies) or involve alternate future scenarios (e.g., climate change) to undertake in field trials alone.

We will leverage the data and crop simulation results from previous AgMIP work, and further obtain projections of future, regional climate conditions and socio-economic data, to evaluate the rice production systems under “current” and “future” climate conditions and assess the potential mitigation and adaptation co-benefits of sustainable rice management and other management practices in Bangladesh. This study will serve as an initial “pilot” for applying these methods more broadly and systematically to evaluate sustainable rice system options and cropping system diversification approaches across many countries using AgMIP methodology.