Climate change and Resilience of Agricultural System: an econometric and computational analysis

Objectives of the current and future European CAP are to enhance the climate change resilience of European agriculture, increase climate change adaptation and protect biodiversity. Climate change Resilience of Agriculture System (CRAS) project aims, through an econometric and computational analysis, to better understand the contribution of agrobiodiversity to the resilience of agroecosystems and to the mitigation of the impacts of climate change on the agricultural sector. Objectives of the project are:
1. Estimating the contribution of agrobiodiversity to the economic resilience of the agricultural system applying the Ricardian approach.
2. Including agrobiodiversity into a CGE model to assess its role in smoothing climate change impacts on the agricultural sector, using parameters estimated in 1)
3. To evaluate the potential for adaptation policies favouring agrobiodiversity conservation to reduce climate impacts. The modified version of GE3AR model is used to assess the macro-economic (general equilibrium) implications of agrobiodiversity as a damage smoothing opportunity.
In addition to policy advices, the project will contribute at exposing the debate on biodiversity conservation and climate change through an array of dissemination and communication efforts. During the outgoing phase, Dr. Lea Nicita will conduct the research and training at the Yale F&ES School, under the supervision of Professor Mendelsohn. Afterwards she will return to CMCC under the supervision of Professor Carlo Carraro. The project with its trainings improves her research and transferable skills, and extends her international networks through the contacts of the host and the beneficiary. By including versatile training-through-research, multiple dissemination and communication methods, public engagement and networking the project has a strong impact on the researcher’s career, on the future research collaboration as well as on the public interest.