Research Structure and Implementation Overview
GECAFS has five main research and implementation structures:
- A set of conceptual and methodological research themes
- A set of regionally-focused projects
- A web-based Forum
- A set of Partner Projects
- A mechanism to integrate conceptual and methodological with regional research
Conceptual and Methodological Research
GECAFS conceptual and methodological research agendas have developed through a series of multidisciplinary workshops and informal discussions, guided by members of the GECAFS Scientific Advisory Committee and GECAFS Science Officers. This process defined the interdisciplinary GECAFS agendas (which continue to evolve) on the following themes:
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Food Systems, to improve understanding of the interactions between food systems and global environmental change
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Vulnerability and Adaptation, to integrate social and natural science understandings of how food systems are vulnerable to global environmental change, so as to better identify viable adaptation options for food systems
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Scenarios, to construct plausible futures of socioeconomic and environmental conditions for food system analyses
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Decision Support, to improve dialogue between scientists and policy-makers on the interactions between food security and environment
GECAFS collaboration on each theme brings together relevant, high-quality research from around the world. Joint activities, including workshop, multi-authored papers, formal synthesis exercises, etc, are designed to deliver improved generic understanding and methods for assessing the interactions between food systems, food security and GEC.
Regional Research
The GECAFS regional research portfolio consists of a small set of regionally-focused projects representing a range of major GEC issues and food systems. These projects undertake regional-level, policy-relevant research on impacts, adaptation and feedbacks. They are designed at the sub-continental scale – an important spatial scale for food security, food system research and GEC considerations. The initial regional GECAFS projects focus on:
the Indo-Gangetic Plain (covering parts of Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan)
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the Caribbean (essentially the CARICOM nations)
- southern Africa (most of the SADC countries)
GECAFS Forum
GECAFS has launched a web-based forum to help link the worldwide community of researchers interested in the interactions between food systems and global environmental change. It is designed to enable virtual participation in GECAFS-related research by a broad and diverse range of collaborators and colleagues.
Partner Projects
GECAFS recognises that a number of major initiatives are developing worldwide, which although not designed to address the GECAFS Science Plan and Implementation Strategy per se, could make a significant contribution to and/or benefit from collaboration with GECAFS. In some cases collaboration would be enhanced by formalising such projects as GECAFS Partner Projects.
Integrating Conceptual and Methodological Research
The integration of conceptual and regionally-focused research is central to GECAFS design. It is achieved by an iterative process by which the conceptual and methodological research agenda is influenced by science and policy issues identified in regional projects; and the regionally-focused research draws on improved conceptual understanding and methods. Further, GECAFS results from the regional projects can be synthesised to establish the robustness of newly-emerging concepts and methods across the diverse environments.