A one-day training on the FABLE Calculator at FAO

FAO staff gathered at the FABLE Calculator training at the FAO.

Author: Charlotte Chemarin (Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT), Aline Mosnier (SDSN), and Clara Douzal (SDSN).

To play and to learn

In the first half of the day, participants embarked on an immersive journey to reconcile regional objectives with global sustainability goals through a mini-Scenathon. A mini-Scenathon has two characteristics: 1) it is a collaborative game where each team, representing a country or a region, should find a pathway that can both meet national or regional objectives related to food and land systems and global targets, 2) countries and regions are connected through trade which is solved in an iterative approach (see scenathon.org and FABLE 2024).

Here we limited the number of global targets to food security (1), biodiversity (1), and climate change mitigation (2). Six regions were represented and groups of 5 to 6 participants were formed to play a region using regional FABLE-C (FABLE Calculator) which was initialized with a pathway that would be close to current trends. Their task was to define a more sustainable pathway by changing and defining new scenarios related for instance to population, dietary shifts, afforestation, productivity changes, or adoption of agroecological practices. In the shoes of decision-makers, groups had lively discussions about what changes would be ambitious enough to achieve the targets but still achievable for the region.

Results of the mini-Scenathon played at the FAO

Note: Global results after trade adjustment among the 6 regions: North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe and Central Asia, Near East and North Africa, Africa, Asia and Pacific.

In the afternoon, after all sustainable regional pathways have been extracted and key indicators aggregated to the global level, we shared and discussed the aggregated results of the mini-Scenathon. While the participants were not able to reach the global targets, significant progress was achieved compared to the starting point and each region explained what the key levers were used to make progress (Table above). Parts of the remaining gaps were explained by the lack of time to explore further and activate more levers in the FABLE-C, and the problem at stake is not easy to solve.

Then, participants took a quiz designed to highlight some key mechanisms of the FABLE-C. Open discussions after the quiz allowed participants to better integrate the scope and potential of the FABLE-C and how to use it. Click here if you would like to test your knowledge about the tool!

To continue exploring the tool, each group focused on underlying parameters of the model such as crop or livestock productivity, ruminant density and afforestation dynamics. The training finished with feedback from the participants, showing that gamification proved effective to rapidly get familiar with the main functionalities of the FABLE-C and some of the complexities of integrated food and land use system planning. More in-depth training, especially about socio-economic aspects and comparison with other models, and self-led learning would be necessary to strengthen participant understanding.

From training to action

FAOSTAT is the portal where the FAO makes available for free a wealth of data on the production, trade and consumption in the agricultural sectors since the 60s. It works on data harmonization and annual updates and as such, it is a great example of a global public good that is widely used. The FABLE-C relies heavily on the FAOSTAT database and could even be enriched with more datasets from the FAO.

The FAO uses and develops several modelling tools, such as EX-ACT, GLEAM, and MOSAICC. The FABLE-C is quite complementary to these tools as it is open, it shares the same objective of simplicity of use and transparency, but it has also the advantage of integrating several sectors and of testing a wide range of scenarios. The FABLE Secretariat and FAO, in particular the Agrifood Economics and Policy Division (ESA), are collaborating to support countries in developing integrated plans to help achieve the FAO 1.5 roadmap, using the FABLE-C. This and future collaborations could enable better use of existing FAO data and expertise to strengthen the FABLE Calculator, in particular in the water and aquaculture domains, and indicators used to measure food security or GHG emissions beyond the farm level.

Interesting ideas emerged from this training for instance to use FAO data to better represent water availability constraint and production from fisheries, to include labor in the related processing industry of different agricultural commodities, or to compare the results of the agricultural outlook based on the AGLINK-COSIMO models with the results from the Calculator for some countries. Some staff were also interested in using the FABLE-C for specific FAO projects.

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