Guide to Developing Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land-Use (AFOLU) Carbon Market Projects under Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP)

This report outlines the general steps required for development of a carbon project intended for sale of carbon credits via a carbon offset program, whether compliance or voluntary. While there are differences among the numerous offset programs, the major components are generally the same and any carbon project originating in the agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU) sector will follow these steps. This report was written as a guide to development of carbon projects for Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP), but the same process outlined here is equally applicable to any AFOLU carbon project.This work was supported by the PSNP Climate Smart Initiative. The PSNP is implemented by the Government of Ethiopia with support from the following development partners: Canadian International Development Agency, Irish Aid, European Commission, Royal Netherlands Embassy, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, UK Department for International Development, United States Agency for International Development, World Food Program and World Bank

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Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP): Soil carbon and fertility impact assessment

Ethiopia’s climate smart initiative (CSI) aims to integrate the implications of climate change into the Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) activities, and systems to strengthen this important social safety net program, and enable Ethiopia to better manage climate risks and help its chronically food insecure population to better cope with shocks, create assets and secure livelihoods, even as the climate changes. CSI is also tasked with preparing the ground for PSNP’s sustainable public work programs to access climate finance and possibly payments from ecosystem services and benefits to spur and enable the transition towards low-carbon, climate-resilient growth and development. More robust and cost effective analysis and information on soil carbon stock changes and associate soil fertility and productivity indicators over space and time is required at multiple stages of development and implementation of PSNP’ participatory integrated watershed management projects to access climate finance. The main objectives of this study are to: (i) assemble business as usual and project scenario baseline database on soil carbon and other soils fertility, health and productivity indicators for six chronically food insecure and vulnerable Ethiopian regional states (i.e., Afar, Amhara, Oromia, SNNPR, Somali and Tigray), where PSNP’s sustainable agricultural and environmental rehabilitation public works have been implemented widely, ii) assess the impacts of Ethiopia’s PSNP participatory integrated watershed intervention projects on soil carbon capture and sequestration, as well as on other climate smart environmental and agricultural co-benefits in light of climate change, food security and low-carbon livelihoods in these regions, and (iii) support Ethiopia’s safety net climate smart initiative to take advantage of international carbon and climate finance opportunities to support sustaining the existing activities as well as scaling-up future implementations of PSNP participatory watershed public works projects in Ethiopia.This work was supported by the PSNP Climate Smart Initiative. The PSNP is implemented by the Government of Ethiopia with support from the following development partners: Canadian International Development Agency, Irish Aid, European Commission, Royal Netherlands Embassy, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, UK Department for International Development, United States Agency for International Development, World Food Program and World Bank

Avifauna e uso da terra: o caso do Parque Natural de Montesinho

Apresenta-se uma possível utilização da informação dos atlas de avifauna como instrumentos de apoio à gestão de áreas de alta diversidade biológica. O atlas de avifauna do Parque Natural de Montesinho recolhe a informação relativa a um total de 119 espécies, de aves referenciadas, em 48 quadrículas de 5 por 5 quilómetros. A relação entre a avifauna e os sistemas de utilização da terra que a sustenta estimou-se por correlações canónicas (CCA - ter Braak, 1986). Uma análise de classificação (TWINSPAN- Hill, 1979) permitiu discriminar os sectores representativos do PNM. A amplitude de nicho das espécies em relação aos usos da terra, assim como a sua capacidade descritiva e discriminante, avaliam-se, mediante índices de informação (Shannon e Weaver, 1949). Os três eixos gerados pelas CCA avaliaram em 0,594, 0,689 e 0,633 a correlação (Kendall) da avifauna e os usos da terra considerados. Os seus resultados classificam o território do PNM em duas grandes unidades separadas pelo Rio Sabor, o sector ocidental evidencia gradientes climáticos e o oriental gradientes fisiográficos. São fundamentalmente passariformes residentes e biogeografia paleártica (Alauda arvensis, Pica pica, Passer montanus, etc.) as espécies mais envolvidas na dinâmica do território, apresentando os mais elevados valores de entropia. Os usos da terra apresentam distintas relações com o valor informativo das variáveis avifaunísticas. Destacam-se as relações positivas com os secadais, soutos e carvalhais, as neutras com as culturas de regadio e as negativas com os pinhais. A preponderância dos passeriformes residentes na discriminação do território destaca a escala de trabalho, para as quais o uso da terra têm uma importância acrescida na determinação do habitat dessas espécies. As relações com o uso da terra parecem manifestar uma adaptação da avifauna aos sistemas agrários tradicionais ( dos carvalhais aos lameiros e soutos), o que não ocorrerá em relação às formas mais modernas de utilização da terra (regadio e pinhais).Reitoria da Universidade de Coimbra, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, Fundação Luso-Americana para o Desenvolvimento, Câmara Municipal de Coimbra, Região de Turismo do Centro, Banco do Comércio e Indústria, SA, Cafés Delt

Diagnosis of sarcopenia on thoracic computed tomography and its association with postoperative survival after anatomic lung cancer resection

Computer tomography-derived skeletal muscle index normalized for height in conjunction with muscle density enables single modality-based sarcopenia assessment that accounts for all diagnostic criteria and cutoff recommendations as per the widely accepted European consensus. Yet, the standard approach to quantify skeletal musculature at the third lumbar vertebra is limited for certain patient groups, such as lung cancer patients who receive chest CT for tumor staging that does not encompass this lumbar level. As an alternative, this retrospective study assessed sarcopenia in lung cancer patients treated with curative intent at the tenth thoracic vertebral level using appropriate cutoffs. We showed that skeletal muscle index and radiation attenuation at level T10 correlate well with those at level L3 (Pearson’s R = 0.82 and 0.66, p < 0.001). During a median follow-up period of 55.7 months, sarcopenia was independently associated with worse overall (hazard ratio (HR) = 2.11, 95%-confidence interval (95%-CI) = 1.38–3.23, p < 0.001) and cancer-specific survival (HR = 2.00, 95%-CI = 1.19–3.36, p = 0.009) of lung cancer patients following anatomic resection. This study highlights feasibility to diagnose sarcopenia solely by thoracic CT in accordance with the European consensus recommendations. The straightforward methodology offers easy translation into routine clinical care and potential to improve preoperative risk stratification of lung cancer patients scheduled for surgery

Successful auxiliary two-staged partial resection liver transplantation (ASPIRE-LTx) for end-stage liver disease to avoid small-for-size situations

Background Risks for living-liver donors are lower in case of a left liver donation, however, due to lower graft volume, the risk for small-for-size situations in the recipients increases. This study aims to prevent small-for-size situations in recipients using an auxiliary two-staged partial resection liver transplantation (LTX) of living-donated left liver lobes. Case presentation Two patients received a two-stage auxiliary LTX using living-donated left liver lobes after left lateral liver resection. The native extended right liver was removed in a second operation after sufficient hypertrophy of the left liver graft had occurred. Neither donor developed postoperative complications. In both recipients, the graft volume increased by an average of 105% (329 ml to 641 ml), from a graft-to-body-weight ratio of 0.54 to 1.08 within 11 days after LTX, so that the remnant native right liver could be removed. No recipient developed small-for-size syndrome; graft function and overall condition is good in both recipients after a follow-up time of 25 months. Conclusions Auxiliary two-staged partial resection LTX using living-donor left lobes is technically feasible and can prevent small-for-size situation. This new technique can expand the potential living-donor pool and contributes to increase donor safety

Infiltration from the pedon to global grid scales: an overview and outlook for land surface modelling

Infiltration in soils is a key process that partitions precipitation at the land surface in surface runoff and water that enters the soil profile. We reviewed the basic principles of water infiltration in soils and we analyzed approaches commonly used in Land Surface Models (LSMs) to quantify infiltration as well as its numerical implementation and sensitivity to model parameters. We reviewed methods to upscale infiltration from the point to the field, hill slope, and grid cell scale of LSMs. Despite the progress that has been made, upscaling of local scale infiltration processes to the grid scale used in LSMs is still far from being treated rigorously. We still lack a consistent theoretical framework to predict effective fluxes and parameters that control infiltration in LSMs. Our analysis shows, that there is a large variety in approaches used to estimate soil hydraulic properties. Novel, highly resolved soil information at higher resolutions than the grid scale of LSMs may help in better quantifying subgrid variability of key infiltration parameters. Currently, only a few land surface models consider the impact of soil structure on soil hydraulic properties. Finally, we identified several processes not yet considered in LSMs that are known to strongly influence infiltration. Especially, the impact of soil structure on infiltration requires further research. In order to tackle the above challenges and integrate current knowledge on soil processes affecting infiltration processes on land surface models, we advocate a stronger exchange and scientific interaction between the soil and the land surface modelling communities

Climate finance and carbon markets for Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP): Executive Summary for Policymakers.

Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) is recognized as a model public works safety net program, which provides food and cash payments to households suffering from food insecurity in return for labor that builds public infrastructure. In addition to the target benefits of food security and infrastructure development, PSNP’s participatory water-shed management interventions, while not their primary objective, are already delivering climate-change mitigation benefits by sequestering carbon in soils and biomass and reducing emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from the agricultural, forestry and other land use (AFOLU) sector. New opportunities for support from dedicated climate finance channels could be opened up by quantifying the climate change mitigation benefits (a.k.a. carbon benefits) generated by PSNP activities. This report summarizes the potential of PSNP's food security program to contribute to climate change mitigation, and the policy actions required to access international climate finance to support this program.This work was supported by the PSNP Climate Smart Initiative. The PSNP is implemented by the Government of Ethiopia with support from the following development partners: Canadian International Development Agency, Irish Aid, European Commission, Royal Netherlands Embassy, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, UK Department for International Development, United States Agency for International Development, World Food Program and World Bank

Carbon finance opportunities for Ethiopia’s PSNP

This policy brief is one of a series produced by the Climate Smart Initiative (CSI), a two-year action research project (2013–15) designed to improve how Ethiopia’s national rural safety net deals with climate change issues. This brief considers how the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) can help mitigate or curb the production of greenhouse gases (GHG), one of the main human causes driving climate change. It also considers the potential of international carbon finance, and the CSI’s role in developing the evidence base needed to access these funds

Climate Change Mitigation Potential of Ethiopia’s Productive Safety-Net Program (PSNP)

Food security programs designed to alleviate poverty, of which Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) is a model example, are contributing also to climate-change mitigation in Sub-Saharan Africa. PSNP’s climate-smart land management and ecosystem restoration interventions deliver climate-change mitigation principally by sequestering carbon in soils and biomass. This opens a new line of thinking and opportunity where food-security interventions that target underlying drivers of food insecurity—such as ecosystem and land degradation—become a vehicle for climate-change mitigation. Using a combination of geospatial modeling and biophysical approaches, we here show that the mean carbon benefit of all PSNP sites was 5.7 tonnes CO2e /ha /yr. On average, these carbon benefits were primarily due to increases in biomass (40% of total), in soil organic carbon (38%) and reduced livestock greenhouse gas emissions (22%). Extrapolating these results to the whole of PSNP’s 600,000 ha of already-established area enclosures would imply that a total carbon benefit in the order of 3.4 million t CO2e /yr has already been achieved by PSNP. This shows that food security safety net programs, despite not being initially intended to provide climate change mitigation, are nonetheless climate smart, achieving mitigation impacts comparable to the largest carbon projects currently implemented in the agriculture forestry and other land use sector globally.This work was supported by the PSNP Climate Smart Initiative. The PSNP is implemented by the Government of Ethiopia with support from the following development partners: Canadian International Development Agency, Irish Aid, European Commission, Royal Netherlands Embassy, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, UK Department for International Development, United States Agency for International Development, World Food Program and World Bank