Overview

Decision-makers in many regions and countries already use foresight tools and analysis to anticipate trends and evaluate policy trade-offs. However, development goals today span multiple Impact Areas with more possible trade-offs, and food, land, and water systems are also more integrated, with shared challenges and risks. As a result, the foresight tools and metrics needed to track trends and evaluate priorities have also become more complex.

As food, land and water systems become more interconnected and the tools and metrics needed to analyze them become more complex, it is difficult and costly for governments and researchers, especially in developing countries, to remain at the forefront of foresight analysis. The foresight portal reduces these barriers by making it easier to access and use CGIAR’s core foresight models, databases, and systems-level metrics.

List of models

Below we present a list of foresight related models and tools, with a special focus on the tools used by the CGIAR foresight community. (Model names are clickable and lead to more information)

	MODEL	COMMENTS
Economic	IMPACT	Global agricultural economic partial equilibrium model developed by IFPRI. It is part of the Foresight initiative model toolbox and used for global foresight analysis
	RIAPA	National-level computable general equilibrium (CGE) model developed by IFPRI. It is part of the Foresight initiative model toolbox and used in national level foresight analysis.
	GLOBE	Global CGE model, developed by CGIAR partners. Used in combination with IMPACT for general equilibrium analysis in global analysis of the foresight Initiative.
	ADAM	ADAM is an agrifood system data analysis modeling framework to generate new metrics from existing data sources by creating interoperable derived data sets.
Crop simulation	DSSAT	Generic platform for crop growth simulation models. Many of the individual models in DSSAT have been developed in collaboration with CGIAR scientists. It is part of the Foresight Initiative model toolbox.
	AQUACROP	Developed by FAO. Occasionally used by CGIAR but it does not currently belong to the Foresight Initiative model toolbox.
	APSIM	Developed by CGIAR partners. Occasionally used by CGIAR but it does not currently belong to the Foresight Initiative model toolbox.
	WOFOST	Developed by CGIAR partners. Occasionally used by CGIAR but it does not currently belong to the Foresight Initiative model toolbox.
	ORYZA	Rice crop growth model developed by IRRI. Occasionally used by CGIAR but it does not currently belong to the Foresight Initiative model toolbox.
Other biophysical	Livestock-IMPACT	Livestock model developed by ILRI and linked to IMPACT and thus part of the Foresight Initiative toolbox.
	Fish-IMPACT	Fish catchment model developed by WorldFish and linked to IMPACT and thus part of the Foresight Initiative toolbox.
Land use	SPAM	Spatial Allocation Model, developed by IFPRI and provides inputs to almost all CGIAR foresight models. It is part of the Foresight Initiative model toolbox.
	ECOCROP	Developed by FAO as a tool to determine the suitability of a crop for a specified environment. Occasionally used by CGIAR but it does not currently belong to the Foresight Initiative model toolbox.