Measurement and reporting of climate-smart agriculture: technical guidance for a countrycentric process

Given the extent of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) initiatives at project, national, regional and global levels, there is increasing interest in tracking progress in implementing CSA at national level. CSA is also expected to contribute to higher-level goals (e.g., the Paris Agreement, Africa Union’s Vision 25x25, and the Sustainable Development Goals [SDGs], etc.). Measurement and reporting of climate-smart agriculture (MR of CSA) provides intelligence on necessary the status, effectiveness, efficiency and impacts of interventions, which is critical for meeting stakeholders’ diverse management and reporting needs. In this paper, we build the case for a stakeholder-driven, country-centric framework for MR of CSA, which aims to increase coordination and coherence across stakeholders’ MR activities, while also aligning national reporting with reporting on international commitments. We present practical guidance on how to develop an integrated MR framework, drawing on findings from a multi-country assessment of needs, opportunities and capacities for national MR of CSA. The content of a unified MR framework is determined by stakeholders’ activities (how they promote CSA), needs (why MR is useful to them) and current capacities to conduct periodic monitoring, evaluation and reporting (how ready are institutions, staff and finances). Our analysis found that explicit demand for integration of data systems and active engagement of stakeholders throughout the entire process are key ingredients for building a MR system that is relevant, useful and acted upon. Based on these lessons, we identify a seven-step framework for stakeholders to develop a comprehensive information system for MR of progress in implementing CSA

The Functions of Participation in a Village?Based Health Pre?Payment Scheme: What Can Participation Actually Do?

Summary This article analyses micro?level interactions in one case study to argue that participation does not necessarily lead to accountability. The case study covers the process of establishment, implementation and evaluation of a village?based health pre?payment scheme in a poor village in China. Judged on widely used criteria, the scheme and evaluation activities represent examples of ‘high degrees of community participation’. However, analysis of the process points to the influence that different interests, different channels for voicing interests, and unequal power relations have in determining the outcome of decision?making processes

Health Human Resources in Rural China

The availability of doctors in rural areas of China is high in comparison to many other countries. However, data from a national survey show that many are poorly trained have have a low workloads. In recent years many of the better qualified doctors have left rural areas and less qualified personnel are allowed to provide services without supervision. This article highlights major problems regarding human health resources in poor rural areas and it suggests options for addressing them

Gender Issues in Biogas Promotion and Use in Kenya: A preliminary review

This review has been undertaken in the context of preparation of a concept note for the Kenya dairy NAMA. Biogas promotion is one of the project components. Mitigation actions should aim to achieve greater, more effective, sustainable, and equitable climate change results, outcomes and impacts; ensure that women and men have equal opportunity to contribute to, and benefit from supported activities; and mitigate against potential project risks for women and men arising from the supported activities. In order to ensure that the Kenya dairy NAMA is designed to address these objectives, with support from CCAFS, a process of inquiry has been launched involving stakeholders in the dairy and biogas sectors. This review contributes to that process by summarizing existing knowledge on gender issues in biogas promotion and use, and existing experience with addressing gender issues in biogas promotion initiatives. The focus is on household (domestic) biogas

Tier 2 inventory approaches in the livestock sector: A collection of agricultural greenhouse gas inventory practices

This is a collection of information and examples describing how countries have used different data sources, methods, approaches and institutional processes to adopt and continually improve a Tier 2 approach for estimating livestock GHG emissions in national GHG inventories. The collection provides numerous case studies of how different countries have applied Tier 2 approaches in the livestock sector. These case studies are intended to inform about the practical methods countries use to compile their livestock GHG inventories and to stimulate those involved in livestock GHG inventories to devise methods for improved inventories that are suited to their national context. The collection also provides links to more formal guidance from the IPCC and other sources.The collection is based on a review of GHG inventory submissions by 63 countries that currently (2017)use a Tier 2 approach.Enteric fermentation is the largest livestock emission source, and most countries have applied a Tier 2 approach to cattle. The collection therefore focuses on the use of Tier 2 approaches in estimating enteric fermentation emissions from cattle, although links with estimation of cattle manure management methane emissions are also discussed

The technical mitigation potential of demand-side measures in the agri-food sector: a preliminary assessment of available measures

A number of studies have suggested that addressing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agricultural production, or ‘supply-side emissions’, will be insufficient to reduce agri-food sector GHG emissions to limit the increase of global temperatures to well below 2o C. Recent studies have also suggested that ‘demandside measures’ related to food consumption, food value chains, and food loss and waste, will be necessary to reduce emissions and may have a larger technical mitigation potential than supply-side measures. This report assesses the availability of demand-side policies and measures, and looks at evidence of these measures’ impacts on behavior that directly results in emissions from the agri-food sector. Often discussed demand-side measures include ‘soft’ measures (e.g. health promotion initiatives, product labeling) and ‘hard’ measures (e.g. consumption taxes or subsidies). We review here the effectiveness of these measures for dietary change and reductions in food loss and waste, with a focus on developing countries, where agrifood emissions are projected to grow most rapidly and where the gaps in knowledge are largest. This report is linked to CCAFS Info Note "Shifting food consumption to mitigate climate change is critical to fulfilling the Paris Agreement, but how?" https://cgspace.cgiar.org/bitstream/handle/10568/77145/Info%20note%20Demand%20side%20mitigation%20Aug%2022%202016.pd

Further evidence that gender matters for GHG mitigation in the dairy sector: Analysis of survey data from central Kenya highlights interactive effects of gender and farm management practices on milk yield and GHG emission intensity

Consumption of dairy products in Sub-Saharan Africa is projected to increase significantly in the coming decades. As production increases, there will be an increasing need to reduce the environmental impacts of dairy production. One way to reduce the carbon footprint of milk production is to increase productivity: more productive cows use a greater proportion of feed energy and protein intake for milk production than less productive cows. Because more milk is produced for a given level of feed intake, the carbon footprint of milk can be reduced. Productivity may be increased by a range of management practices, such as improved breeds, use of higher quality feeds, animal health interventions and more. Often these measures are implemented as technology packages. For example, stall-feeding often involves adoption of improved dairy breeds and changes in feed sources and feed quality. Adoption of more intensive management practices is commonly linked to increased commercialization so that intensive production remains profitable. While most smallholders sell to informal markets, linking smallholders to the formal market (e.g. cooperatives and processing firms) is also seen as one way to incentivize and enable increased milk production. Thus, Kenya’s proposed dairy NAMA intends to promote intensification of production practices on farm to increase milk yields, and link dairy farmers to cooperatives and formal sector milk processors to strengthen market-based incentives for increased milk production (SDL 2017)

Village Health Services in Rural China

This article reports the findings of a questionnaire survey of 43 health workers and a survey of health stations in 27 villages in three relatively poor counties in China. This is a small sample, but the findings provide an insight into some of the major characteristics of village health services. The survey found big differences between health services in Xunyi and in the other two counties. A higher proportion of Xunyi's population sees a health worker when they are unwell and its preventive programmes provide much better coverage (Li et al. 1997; Shu et al. 1997). This article tries to explain these differences and concludes by discussing the issues that policy makers have to address with regard to village health services in poor rural areas

Climate-smart livestock sector development: the state of play in NAMA development

Given the projected increase in the demand for animal-source foods in developing countries, trends in livestock GHG emissions and other environmental impacts, there is an urgent need to change livestock production. Despite its significant role in global GHG emissions, the livestock sector also has a large potential to reduce its environmental impacts while increasing productivity. Mitigation practices also have other co-benefits, addressing land degradation (conservation of natural resources), livestock waste, resource efficiency and income generation for the rural poor. Progress in implementation of mitigation actions has been slow. There is limited information on emerging experiences with Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) development and implementation, pointing to the need to better document what is being done and to share knowledge and experience among interested countries. In particular, interested countries would benefit from better knowledge of the technical and stakeholder processes through which NAMAs are being developed; links between NAMAs and other livestock sector policies and programs; barriers to adoption of promoted practices and means to address them and financing arrangements for NAMA implementation. Supporting interested countries to share experiences in these and other dimensions would help reduce the gap between ‘intent’ and actual NAMA implementation

Measurement, reporting and verification of greenhouse gas emissions from livestock: current practices and opportunities for improvement

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture now exceed emissions from land use, land use change and forestry, including deforestation, and are growing at a rate of about 1% per year (Tubiellio et al. 2015). The main livestock emission sources – enteric fermentation, manure management and manure deposited on pasture – account for 62% of all agriculture emissions (FAOSTAT). Submitted national inventories show that livestock emissions account for an average of 9% of gross GHG emissions in all developing countries, but exceed 20% of gross emissions in more than a third of developing countries. Future increase in demand for livestock products is expected to drive livestock GHG emissions higher. At the same time, however, the GHG emission intensity (tCO2e per tonne of livestock product) has been falling with the enhanced productivity and efificency of livestock systems (Caro et al. 2014) and is expected to continue to fall. Productivity and efficiency gains are important ways to meet increasing demand for livestock products while limiting impact on the global climate system (Gerber et al. 2013, Havlík et al. 2014). As part of their contribution to the Paris Agreement, 92 developing countries included livestock-related emissions in the scope of their INDCs, including 48 that explicitly mentioned intentions to reduce emissions from livestock- related sources (enteric fermentation, manure management and biogas, grasslands and silvopastoral systems). Seventeen countries have proposed livestock mitigation policies and measures such as Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs). Associated with these plans is growing interest in improving measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) of livestock emissions (Box 1). Guidance from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for compilation and reporting of national GHG inventories provides methodological options for estimating livestock GHG emissions (IPCC 1996, IPCC 2006). Tier 1 methodologies use fixed values for GHG emissions per head of livestock, so this quantification approach can only reflect changes in livestock populations. Tier 2 methodologies – which require more detailed information on different categories of animal and data on livestock weight, weight gain, feed digestibility and other factors – are better able to capture the effects of changes in management on GHG emissions. However, only 5 of 140 developing countries have adopted a Tier 2 approach that can routinely capture changes in productivity and efficiency of livestock systems in reporting to the UNFCCC. Another 16 developing countries are currently using a Tier 2 approach to calculate country- and system-specific emission factors, but their reporting systems are unable to capture ongoing changes in productivity that affect emission factors and emission intensity over time. Within this context, CCAFS, the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), with support from the New Zealand government, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Bank, embarked on a study of current MRV practices and opportunities for improvement. The study focused on three areas: 1. Do current livestock GHG emission MRV practices meet countries’ policy needs? 2. What are the common barriers to improving MRV of livestock GHG emissions? 3. How can international organizations support improvements in MRV of livestock GHG emissions? UNIQUE Forestry and Land Use GmbH conducted a desk study and interviews. At a CCAFS-GRA-FAO-World Bank workshop in Rome in February 2017, 32 experts from developing and developed countries deliberated on a draft discussion paper, providing further insights on countries‘ priority concerns, constraints and plans. This info note summarizes key findings from the process; full results are published in a CCAFS report by Wilkes et al. (2017) "Measurement, reporting and verification of livestock GHG emissions by developing countries in the UNFCCC: current practices and opportunities for improvement" https://cgspace.cgiar.org/bitstream/handle/10568/89335/CCAFS_Report17.pd