The Zambia modelling scoping meeting took place on 15th March 2017 at the Climate Change Secretariat, Lusaka Zambia. The objective of the meeting, designed as a Focus Group Discussion (FGD), was to clarify entry points for project intervention to ensure alignment with Zambia climate objectives & socio-economic priorities as stipulated in the NDCs and National Development blue prints respectively. 

The FGD involved an inclusive set of stakeholders needed to ensure modelling actions are most responsive to Zambia priorities. Respectively it involved participation of modelling stakeholders drawn from government ministries where to ensure this inclusivity, the discussions were jointly chaired by the ministry of environment and ministry of planning which coordinates development across all ministries. It also involved stakeholders from academia & research. These stakeholders presented on the country priority and state of modelling activities. The project technical team lead by UN Environment and comprising the LEDS GP/NREL & AfLP/ KNUST provided technical backstopping. The country stakeholders narrowed down scope of potential activities to those most reflective of the diverse country priorities. To this end, at the sectorial level, Zambia stakeholders prioritized clean energy and agriculture, lands & forestry (AFLOU), with clean energy, agriculture & forestry being the top 3 priorities respectively. The modelling will complement developments in these sectors by providing the analytical framework to forecast carbon offset vis a vie jobs created and economic expansion actualized by alternate investment decisions in each of these sectors as well as their amalgamation. This will be demand driven and build on modelling progress already established by Zambia. Among modelling tools already in use in Zambia, include LEAP (energy), COMAP (land use change / AFLOU),  JEDI, MARKAL, DIAZ, GACMO, ZAMMOD, Green Jobs Employment Projects model, MOSAICC, DSSAT among others. And the interventions will build on them towards establishing an analytical framework to inform optimal policy decisions as Zambia progresses in implementing its development plans.