In October 2023, the WATDEV modelling working group had a successful meeting in Turin where we decided which models would form the core of the toolbox (SWAT-MODFLOW and DSSAT) and planned follow-up steps towards the toolbox. It’s time for an update.
Since the Turin meeting, the modelling working group has had a series of regular online meetings with participants from SYKE (Finland), ISRIC (The Netherlands), and CIHEAM-Bari (Italy).
In these meetings, several topics were discussed in various rounds:
- The data collection and setting up of the models, which is mainly taken on by the four PhD students from the partner countries in Africa (see article here)
- The post-processing of the output of biophysical models to enable socio-economic assessment of BMPs within the toolbox
- The general outline of and functioning of the toolbox
During these meetings, we also cleared an overview of the indicators that were prioritized in the meetings with the local communities and how these would be included in the toolbox, e.g. directly modelled in the selected models (for example crop yield and organic carbon content of the soil), or through post-processing (for example the benefit-cost ratio and net farm income).
Participatory scenario development
In a series of workshops with the local partners, we investigated what type of scenarios they would be most interested in so that we can include these into the future modelling work. In these workshops, after a brief explanation of the models, the participants were divided into groups. Each group discussed which BMPs they would consider and specified them (for example, for intercropping, which species would you consider to be combined?), as well as looking into where spatially in the area the BMPs would be best to be implemented.
With the results of the local workshops in mind, we then conducted a further scenario development session during the WATDEV stakeholder meeting in Bari where participants were asked to discuss three topics: (i) interest in indicators that the model can produce (so that the modelling team can pay attention to these indicators); (ii) interest in different types of scenarios, ranging from blanket scenarios to spatial differentiation, combinations of BMPs and optimization and finally (iii) participants were asked to draft an ideal scenario for their specific location. The outcomes of these workshops will be taken into account when designing the functionality of the toolbox further and when designing and preparing the scenarios to be simulated with the toolbox.
Designing Toolbox components, user interface and features is underway
Currently, the modelling team is working on the technical coupling of the models, as well as the post-processing steps that will be part of the toolbox. Simultaneously, the models are being set up and data is being collected for running the models in the case study areas. The team has started to design the Toolbox component, user interface and their features.
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