SLAM-B

Coordinating institution : INRAE

Project leader : Olivier Thérond 
Project duration : 60 months | April 1st  2023 → March 31th 2028

Grant : 6 500 000 €

 

Institutional partnerships : AgroPariTech - VetAgroSup - IRD - Université Paris Cité - Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne - Université Toulouse Capitole -  CNRS - CIRAD

Associated institutions : Université de Montpellier - Université Cheikh Anta Diop Dakar - Sénégal (UCAD)

 

Website of SLAM-B

 

 

Achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 and ensuring long‑term sustainability requires the development of a bioeconomy that simultaneously addresses the challenges of producing and processing both food and non‑food resources while preserving natural resources. To this end, territorial approaches that combine agroecology, high‑value resource use, collective action, and the development of virtuous interdependencies (e.g., circular economy, stronger rural–urban linkages) must be promoted.

 

Integrated Assessment and Modelling (IAM) approaches are recognised for their ability to support stakeholders in designing territorial configurations of human activities, including those related to the bioeconomy.

These approaches make it possible to integrate both generic multidisciplinary knowledge and the empirical knowledge of stakeholders into models, and to use these models to simulate and assess, ex ante, territorial organisation scenarios under assumptions of endogenous or exogenous change. The SLAM‑B project aims to structure the French research community that develops and applies IAM approaches to support the development of a sustainable bioeconomy based on agroecology. SLAM‑B will consider the various components of the bioeconomy, including the diversity of production systems, raw materials and final products, biorefineries, recycling loops, and value‑chain organisation.

SLAM‑B addresses three major scientific challenges:

• Developing generic IAM approaches to simulate bioeconomic transitions and anticipate their consequences.
• Demonstrating the relevance and legitimacy of IAM approaches through their application in forward‑looking Living Labs, referred to as Scenario Labs.
• Producing tailored knowledge for public decision‑makers at national and European scales.

To meet these challenges, SLAM‑B is organised into three interconnected task groups (GTs).

• GT1 focuses on developing new functionalities for the MAELIA platform (maelia-platform.inra.fr), including the integration of simulation modules for contrasting livestock systems, environmental biorefineries and bio‑based materials, spatio‑temporal optimisation of value‑chain organisation, and life‑cycle and planetary‑boundaries analyses.
• GT2 is dedicated to implementing and running six Scenario Labs designed as proof‑of‑concepts of the IAM approach based on MAELIA: Armorique, Vosges, Vaucluse, Grand Reims, Réunion Island, and Northern Senegal. These sites cover highly contrasting pedoclimatic, agricultural, forestry, urban, and socio‑economic contexts.
• GT3 aims to develop and apply IAM approaches at the scale of France and Europe to generate knowledge on the amount of crop residues and cover crops available for different bioeconomy sectors, the potential of ecological intensification in forests and agriculture, and the potential for biogas production.

More than 90 scientists from INRAE, IRD, CIRAD, CNRS, and several universities are involved in SLAM‑B.

Participants span a wide range of disciplines: territorial and systems agronomy, socio‑ecological and agent‑based modelling, chemical and bioprocess engineering, sustainability assessment and decision‑support design, political science, economics, and computer science. SLAM‑B will position the French research community as an active and recognised contributor in IAM approaches and in generating knowledge on pathways toward a sustainable bioeconomy.

Coordinators : Olivier Therond (INRAE, LAE), Bernard Kurek (INRAE, FARE) et Lorie Hamelin (INRAE, TBI)