The meeting was hosted by the Institute of Crop Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) in collaboration with the Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning of CAAS and Bioversity International’s Beijing Office. More than 70 participants from 16 FABLE country teams, the FABLE Secretariat (composed of SDSN, IIASA, EAT, and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research), the Food and Land Use Coalition, and other partner organizations met to discuss and plan the Consortium’s program of work over the coming year.
As the meeting was the first time the Consortium met following the publication of the 2019 FABLE Report, the country teams opened by taking stock of their progress on technical capacity development for integrated analysis of food and land-use systems and engagement with national policymakers. The teams then turned to opportunities for building out the Consortium’s work ahead of two major milestones: the Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Kunming (CBD COP15) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Glasgow (UNFCCC COP26), which will be held in October and November 2020, respectively. Specifically, the teams explored options to apply NatureMap, which is developing improved, wall-to-wall continuous, integrated maps on biodiversity, carbon, and other ecosystem values, at the country-level and to support the development of long-term low greenhouse gas emissions development strategies (Article 4.19 of the Paris Agreement), to which several FABLE country teams are already contributing.
The discussions were complemented by the participation of several esteemed guests, including Dr. LIU Chunming, Director General of the Institute of Crop Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, who spoke on the CAAS’ expertise in developing technologies to manage biodiversity and crop improvement for food security in China, and members of the Food and Land-Use Coalition’s country platforms in China, India, and Indonesia.
About FABLE
In late 2017, SDSN and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) launched the Food, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Land Use and Energy (FABLE) Pathways Consortium to bring together leading research institutions forming more than 20 country and regional teams. Members of the consortium collaborate to develop integrated long-term pathways towards sustainable land-use and food systems consistent with the SDGs and the Paris Agreement. The FABLE analyses will also assess international spillover effects to ensure that national pathways are consistent with global objectives. The FABLE Consortium is also part of the Food and Land Use Coalition (FOLU).