Issue 11 - February 2024
Who’s Counting is the quarterly newsletter of the Inventories and Nationally Determined Contributions Network (I&NDC Network). We summarise scientific progress, opportunities, resources, and events related to national agriculture inventory development, national agriculture climate targets, and international inventory capability-building activities.
If members have a particular region or issue they would like to be the focus of future Newsletters, we welcome you to get in touch (contact details at the end).
We encourage you to share this newsletter widely, and please subscribe to the newsletter below.
In Who's Counting this quarter
Spotlight
- COP28 Agreement Signals “Beginning of the End” of the Fossil Fuel Era
Best Practices
- Global Research Alliance Agricultural Inventory Training (GRAIT) Programme
- Regional Pacific Nationally Determined Contribution Hub
Success Stories
- Tonga joins the GRA as the newest member
People in Action
- GRA Joins Coalition of Key Voices at COP28
Events and Opportunities
- Webinar - Co-benefits and trade-offs of agricultural mitigation and adaptation in rice-based cropping systems
- 4th Pacific Oceans Pacific Climate Change Conference 2024
- Resolving the Global Nitrogen Dilemma - Opportunities and Challenges
- International Research Symposium on Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Mitigation - From Research to Implementation
- Protocol for including Mitigation Technologies in LCA - Public Consultation
Jobs Board
- PhD Positions: Digital technologies to Increase the Sustainability of African Livestock systems under climate risks (DISAL)
Resources
- Circular Food Systems around the world: exploring concepts, ideas and opportunities
- The NDC Partnership
Spotlight
COP28 Agreement Signals “Beginning of the End” of the Fossil Fuel Era
In a demonstration of global solidarity, negotiators from nearly 200 Parties came together in Dubai with a decision on the world’s first ‘global stocktake’ to ratchet up climate action before the end of the decade – with the overarching aim to keep the global temperature limit of 1.5°C within reach.
“Whilst we didn’t turn the page on the fossil fuel era in Dubai, this outcome is the beginning of the end,” said UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell in his closing speech. “Now all governments and businesses need to turn these pledges into real-economy outcomes, without delay.”
The global stocktake is considered the central outcome of COP28 – as it contains every element that was under negotiation and can now be used by countries to develop stronger climate action plans due by 2025.
For more updates on the rest of COP28, also see the COP28 blog here:
https://unfccc.int/cop28/blogs
Best Practices
Global Research Alliance Agricultural Inventory Training (GRAIT) Programme
New Zealand is offering to coordinate Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) activities through the I&NDC Network. Countries and organisations will contribute to the programme by sharing information on their current and proposed activities on agricultural MRV and the Enhanced Transparency Framework.
Ultimately, the programme aims to better coordinate global capacity building training work to utilise resources more effectively, reduce burden on developing countries, and avoid the duplication of work. If you are interested in being part of this or learning more, please contact Dr. Andrea Pickering (andrea.pickering@nzagrc.org.nz).
Regional Pacific Nationally Determined Contribution Hub
Formed by Pacific Island nations, for Pacific Islands nations, ‘the Hub’ helps find the data, resources, and expertise that is needed to implement their climate targets - the ‘Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) set by the Paris Agreement.
The Hub works in contribution to the NDC Partnership, a global coalition of countries and institutions collaborating to drive transformational climate action through sustainable development.
The overall objective of the NDC Hub is to support PICTs in reviewing, enhancing and implementing their climate commitments. Supporting PICs to achieve their climate targets will contribute to sustainable and resilient development and promote a transition to a low-carbon development pathway in the Pacific.
The Hub currently serves member countries: Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.
Success Stories
Tonga joins the GRA as the newest member
Tonga is the third Pacific region country to join GRA following Samoa and Fiji’s membership. Tonga’s participation in the GRA will be coordinated through the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forests (MAFF) and they have outlined their priority areas in line with their existing National Circular Economic Systems project with a focus on climate resilience. “Being a member of the GRA will generate a huge advance in Tonga’s drive to cater for the climate change mitigation and adaptation as well as the recoveries from the rising damage and loss from the frequent disasters.”
For more information on the GRA or how to become a member country please contact the GRA Secretariat (secretariat@globalresearchalliance.org).
People in Action
GRA Joins Coalition of Key Voices at COP28
On December 9th, 2023, together with the German Ministry for Food & Agriculture, the Ban Ki-Moon Centre for Global Citizens organised the COP28 side event “Joint work for climate action in agriculture and food systems” to highlight how transforming agriculture and food systems benefits the most vulnerable. The COP28 side event at the German Pavilion, emphasised the pivotal role of international collaboration for knowledge exchange, research, and innovation in accelerating agricultural mitigation and adaptation.
The panel discussion welcoming Claudia Müller, Parliamentary Secretary of State of the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Maria Helena Semedo, FAO Deputy Director-General, Harry Clark, Special Representative Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA) and Elizabeth Nsimadala, smallholder farmer from Uganda and President Eastern Africa Farmers Federation showcased the critical need for balancing adaptation and mitigation in agricultural practices to achieve the targets of the Paris Agreement and increasing resilience of smallholders to climate change. Collaboration, innovation, targeted finance and access to resources were identified as key enablers for transforming agri-food systems to become more sustainable while empowering smallholder farmers with the necessary tools to sustain their livelihoods.
Events and Opportunities
Webinar - Co-benefits and trade-offs of agricultural mitigation and adaptation in rice-based cropping systems
4 March, 1400 - 1530 PST, Online
Join the GRA Croplands Research Group & AGMIP for their upcoming webinar titled “Co-benefits & tradeoffs of agricultural mitigation and adaptation in rice-based cropping systems”. Presentations will be followed by time for Q&A.
Speakers:
Roberto Valdivia (Oregon State University, USA)
Sonali McDermid (New York University, NASA-GISS, USA)
Tao Li (International Rice Research Institute, IRRI, Philippines)
Erik Mencos (Columbia University, NASA-GISS, USA)
4th Pacific Oceans Pacific Climate Change Conference 2024
20 - 24 May 2024, Apia, Samoa
Climate change is one of the most pressing issues confronting the Pacific region today. Pacific nations are among the most affected by the ongoing consequences of global warming. Many of them are already experiencing higher temperatures, shifts in rainfall patterns, rising sea levels and altered frequency and intensity of extreme climate events. Strong traditions, cultures and adaptability to the unique characteristics of their environment and geography have fostered resilient communities over centuries. However, climate change poses a considerable threat to their future.
The overall theme of the Conference underlines the central role of the Pacific Ocean in the life of the communities in the region. It recognises that protection of the ocean is crucial to enable Pacific nations that depend on it to continue to thrive in their home environment. Hence, taking stock of the scientific data and forecasts concerning the social, legal, political, economic, cultural, scientific and environmental impacts of climate change in the Pacific is critical. Equally important is to analyse how the peoples of the Pacific region address them.
The Conference will bring together activists and experts, private, public, and civil society actors, and a wide variety of participants from the arts, churches, industry and other distinct backgrounds to shed light on the knowledge and interpretations related to the rapid changes observed in the region, as well as any divergence between the perceptions of local actors and the dominant scientific discourse.
Resolving the Global Nitrogen Dilemma - Opportunities and Challenges
17 - 21 June 2024, Aarhus, Denmark
In 2024, Aarhus University has the honour of hosting the next N Workshop. Join them for five exciting days, where they will work towards resolving the global nitrogen dilemma. How do you reconcile the need for sufficient N inputs to ensure crop productivity and human nutrition, while decreasing N losses leading to environmental pollution and associated threats to food security and ecosystem health?
They will address these global issues in six regular and at least three special sessions, together with seven interesting keynotes and two roundtables, and the opportunity to visit field trials and research facilities.
International Research Symposium on Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Mitigation - From Research to Implementation
21 - 24 October 2024, Berlin, Germany
Save the Date!
In view of the worsening climate crisis, it is becoming more crucial to take climate change mitigation measures. Therefore, we aim to add impetus to the international dialogue in the field of agricultural climate action. Approaches that have proven to reduce GHG emission but are not yet widely used must be put into practice more vigorously and at a larger scale, therefore special attention will be given to them.
Topics to be addressed include:
- Adoption barriers and progress in implementing climate mitigation measures
- Scaling up climate mitigation measures with high mitigation potential and cost-effectiveness
- (Voluntary) carbon markets, carbon pricing systems and carbon farming options in agriculture
- GHG monitoring (tools) on product, farm and value chain level
- Mitigation options for methane emissions in agriculture
- Innovations to enhance efficiency and decrease emissions in fertilizer use
- Soil carbon sequestration potentials in all soils including mineral and organic soils, grassland
- Novel approaches for MRV and potentials for remote sensing
- Science policy linkages
- And more to be defined and specified
The conference takes place before COP 29 and therefore offers the opportunity to discuss and develop relevant contributions with regard to the international climate negotiations.
Protocol for including Mitigation Technologies in LCA - Public Consultation
A dairy sector consortium supported by academic experts have developed a science-based protocol for the inclusion of dairy mitigation technologies into life cycle assessment. As part of the validation process, they are now conducting a wide-ranging public consultation to capture the input of a wider group of experts on this critically important piece of work.
The consultation is seeking feedback on the proposed approach. Additional material has been provided as background to the proposed methodology. Please do not worry about correcting typos and grammatical aspects (that will be done before final publication), this consultation is purely focused on the fundamentals of the protocol.
The project collaborators and the research team are excited to receive your feedback by Wednesday 27 March, 2024, to this critically important piece of work.
For more information and to access the consultation feedback forms click on the "Read more" button below.
Jobs Board
PhD Positions: Digital technologies to Increase the Sustainability of African Livestock systems under climate risks (DISAL)
Closing Date: 5 March 2024
Are you interested in sensing technologies and enjoy using models and working in exciting environments to apply data science?
We are recruiting 2 PhD students for our new project “Digital technologies to Increase the Sustainability of African Livestock systems under climate risks (DISAL)”. This is a collaboration between the Technical University of Munich, The University of Queensland and International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) aiming to quantify the value of emerging digital technologies to guide on-farm and landscape decisions in the livestock sector. DISAL will explore in particular sensing technology (drones) to monitor biomass, emissions and biodiversity, and ear tags to monitor cattle movements. Production models (crop, grassland and livestock), economic models and data science will help us assess millions of farming options under a range of future climate and market scenarios.
One PhD position will be based in the Munich area in Germany: https://lnkd.in/dMhsDWx7
And the other PhD position will be based in Brisbane, Australia: https://lnkd.in/dKiRnF5P
There is travel between these countries and to conduct field work in Kenya.
Supervisory team:
Adam Komarek
Claudia Arndt
Daniel Rodriguez
Resources
Circular Food Systems around the world: exploring concepts, ideas and opportunities
The NDC Partnership
The NDC Partnership brings together more than 200 members, including more than 120 countries, developed and developing, and more than 80 institutions to create and deliver on ambitious climate action that help achieve the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Governments identify their NDC implementation priorities and the type of support that is needed to translate them into actionable policies and programs. Based on these requests, the membership offers a tailored package of expertise, technical assistance, and funding. This collaborative response provides developing countries with efficient access to a wide range of resources to adapt to and mitigate climate change and foster more equitable and sustainable development.
The NDC Partnership is hosted by the World Resources Institute and United Nations Climate Change Secretariat.
We welcome suggested content for the next issue of Who's Counting. Please email INDC.GRA@gmail.com for all suggestions.
