The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)
and Earth Systems Science Partnership (ESSP) invites you to participate
in a survey of crop modelling and climate change and food security.
The survey is being conducted by the CGIAR/ESSP Climate Change,
Agriculture and Food Security Challenge Programme (CCAFS).  CCAFS is a
major collaborative endeavour between the CGIAR  and ESSP  research
communities, and their respective partners.  Research over a ten-year
period is aimed at:
·         Overcoming the additional threats posed by a changing climate
to achieving food security
·         Enhancing livelihoods
·         Improving environmental management in the developing world.
CCAFS is seeking the views of a wide range of stakeholders on how crop
models can be improved for addressing these objectives.
To access the survey please use the following link:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/crop_models_and_climate_change
Please complete the survey as soon as possible. Responses before the
end of September 2010 will be very much appreciated.
Please feel free to distribute this invitation email to your
colleagues. We aim to capture as wide a range of responses as possible.
We welcome views from model developers, users, funding agencies and
anyone else involved in the use of crop models.
The aim of the survey is to compile as comprehensive a database as
possible of crop models around the world, along with your views on
issues of how the models can be improved for climate change and food
security research. The information will be used to identify areas of
strength and suggest how resources can be targeted to improve models and
fill gaps in capabilities in the coming few years.
A report will be produced for CCAFS, and this will also be an input to
the Agricultural Modelling Intercomparison and Improvement Project
(AgMIP). This  is a distributed climate simulation exercise for
historical model intercomparison and future climate change conditions
with the participation of multiple crop and world agricultural trade
modelling groups around the world.  The goals of AgMIP are to improve
substantially the characterization of risk of hunger and world food
security due to climate change and to enhance adaptation capacity in
both developing and developed countries. AgMIP will place regional
changes in agricultural production in a global context that reflects new
trading opportunities, imbalances, and shortages in world markets
resulting from climate change and other driving forces for food supply.
The survey is being conducted in collaboration between CCAFS, the
International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the Macaulay
Land Use Research Institute (MLURI).
Our apologies if you receive this invitation from multiple sources.
Thank you very much for taking the time to complete this survey – we
believe the results will play an important role in helping to inform
crop modelling efforts throughout the world in the pursuit of poverty
alleviation and food security for all.
You will receive an electronic copy of the report once it has been
completed.
Further information about CCAFS can be found at:
http://www.ccafs.cgiar.org/
For ESSP see: http://www.essp.org/
For CGIAR see: http://www.cgiar.org/
Questions regarding this survey and how the information will be used
can be gained from:
Philip Thornton (International Livestock Research Institute,
http://www.ilri.org/) at: [log in to unmask]
Mike Rivington (Macaulay Land Use Research Institute,
http://www.macaulay.ac.uk/) at: [log in to unmask]
Jawoo Koo (International Food Policy Research Institute,
http://www.ifpri.org/) at:  [log in to unmask]

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