Environmental Defense Fund’s latest blog post examines why reducing livestock methane is considered one of the most significant near-term opportunities for climate action. The article discusses available methane-reduction solutions, the need for approaches tailored to different farming systems, and the support farmers need to adopt these practices successfully.
We are excited to announce the Round 7 recipients of Climate, Food and Farming – Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases Development Scholarships (CLIFF-GRADS). These PhD candidates from low- and middle-income countries have been selected from a large and highly competitive applicant pool, reflecting their outstanding qualifications and strong potential to advance agricultural climate research.
During 2026 and 2027, these fellows will undertake applied research focused on quantifying and mitigating agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to more sustainable food systems.
The 40 Round 7 CLIFF-GRADS fellows represent 21 countries from Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. They will carry out research placements at 33 host institutions worldwide.
CLIFF-GRADS offers short-term research placements of 4 to 6 months. These placements give early-career scientists access to specialized equipment, software, and international expertise not available at their home institutions. Fellows contribute to cutting-edge research in areas such as enteric methane, rice systems, soil emissions, and blue carbon ecosystems.
Please follow this LINK to learn about the scholars and research projects they’ll be part of.
One Health in agrifood systems: Recognition for good practices, success stories and innovations in applying the One Health approach
As part of this year’s Global Conference for Actions on One Health in Agrifood Systems, FAO will celebrate best practices and outstanding innovations advancing the One Health approach across agrifood systems. Through this recognition, we will shine a spotlight on pioneering efforts from stakeholders across agrifood systems – showcasing impactful solutions and inspiring future action toward integrated, inclusive, sustainable, and health-oriented agrifood systems.
Objectives
This recognition aims to promote successfully implemented good practices and outstanding innovations in One Health in agrifood systems that have demonstrated significant measurable impact, and to inspire continued innovation through global stakeholder collaboration.
Scope
The Global Conference will recognize practices, success stories and solutions that represent significant advancements or innovations in One Health approaches and sustainable livestock transformation across the entire value chain, successfully implemented at scale in villages, communities, and cities across the world.
These may include new technologies, systems, practices, or solutions that improve efficiency and support action on One Health in agrifood systems and the sustainable transformation of the livestock value chain, encompassing food security, greenhouse gas mitigation, animal health and welfare, antimicrobial resistance, sustainable livestock farming systems, Indigenous Peoples and pastoralist knowledge systems, women and girls empowerment, capacity development for small-scale producers, finance, post-processing, and policy support.
Eligibility
The conference welcomes applications from institutions, international and regional organizations, academic or research entities, civil society groups, and private sector entities. Applications from women, youth, and Indigenous Peoples are particularly encouraged. FAO employees are not eligible to apply.
Selection process
An international panel of experts nominated by FAO will assess the applications, with attention to inclusive and balanced representation across regions, genders, expertise fields, disciplines, and stakeholder groups.
Evaluations will be based on the following criteria:
Impact and practical application: Demonstrated real-world results and effectiveness.
Innovation and originality: Novelty and uniqueness of the proposed approach.
Inclusivity and social impact: Contribution to gender equality, youth engagement, Indigenous communities’ involvement.
Scalability and replicability: Potential for adoption and implementation across diverse contexts and regions.
Sustainability: Contribution to long-term resilience in agrifood systems.
Recognition, demonstration and ceremony
Recipients will receive official recognition at the FAO Global Conference for Actions on One Health in Agrifood Systems, to be held from 21–23 September 2026 at FAO headquarters. A dedicated technical presentation session and innovation pitch talk will be organized as a special event.
The Global Research Alliance (GRA), the African Climate Action Partnership (AfCAP), and the Government of New Zealand co-hosted this webinar to showcase the achievements of the New Zealand Climate Smart Agriculture (NZCSA) Initiative. The session highlights the initiatives key capability-building efforts across Africa focused on improving agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories, and the important role of the AfCAP Livestock Community of Practice. Through the NZCSA Initiative, technical work in ten countries has progressed beyond default emissions estimates to more advanced Tier 2 methodologies, enabling more accurate and country-specific data.
The Speakers
Moderator: Sinead Leahy (Livestock Research Group Co-Chair, GRA) Opening remarks and Context setting
Speaker 1: Andreas Wilkes (Independent consultant, Values for Development Ltd) NZCSA inventory improvement approach and impact across 10 countries
Speaker 2: Walter Svinurai (University of Zimbabwe) Zimbabwe’s progress, policy relevance and regional connections
Speaker 3: Séga Ndao (Director of ISRA/CRZ Dahra – AfCAP/Livestock CoP) Regional Inventory improvement and bilateral exchanges in West Africa
Speaker 4: Roy Bouwer (Programme Lead, South South North) Regional collaboration in Southern and Eastern Africa and the AfCAP Livestock CoP
A video recording of the webinar are now available to view HERE
We’re proud to share the session recordings from the 2026 New Zealand Agriculture and Climate Change Conference!
The recordings cover a wide range of topics, from the latest research and innovation to practical conversations about the opportunities and challenges ahead for reducing agricultural emissions in Aotearoa New Zealand.
The Global Research Alliance (GRA) & the African Climate Action Partnership (AfCAP) cordially invite you to register for our upcoming webinar on “Strengthening livestock GHG inventories in Africa: Lessons from the NZ CSA Initiative”. This engaging session will bring together inventory and livestock experts, national inventory compilers, researchers, government officials, and development partners involved in agricultural GHG measurement and reporting to gain practical insights into how African countries are strengthening agricultural GHG inventories through Tier 2 approaches. Attendees will also learn about the benefits and challenges of these transitions, their policy relevance, the value of regional collaboration, and hear directly from Zimbabwe’s experience.
Webinar Overview:
This session will showcase key capability-building activities in Africa, centred on improving agricultural GHG inventories, and the role of the AFCAP Livestock Community of Practice. Under the NZ Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) Initiative, technical work in ten countries has moved beyond default emissions estimates to full Tier 2 approaches. The webinar will highlight the practical benefits and challenges of Tier upgrades, their policy relevance, the value of regional collaboration through AFCAP, and insights from the Zimbabwean government.
Event Details
Title: Strengthening livestock GHG inventories in Africa: Lessons from the NZ CSA Initiative
As the livestock sector seeks to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, efforts to identify greenhouse gas emission mitigation opportunities have accelerated. A new industry of feed additives and concentrates claiming to reduce emissions is rapidly expanding. Yet, skepticism remains, and a lack of user-friendly synthesis of existing research has left investors and policy makers without a clear indication of feed additives’ potential. Are additives that mitigate methane available or effective? Are…
Join this event to learn more about the EJP SOIL Second External Call. The webinar will cover an overview of all relevant aspects for the Call and will give a short introduction to the submission tool. Following the Webinar the call office will provide a virtual networking space where interested applicants can get connected. Learn more HERE and register HERE.
Join the virtual online AgMIP Conference on ‘Making Climate-Smart Agriculture Work’ from 24-26 May. Integrating science, modeling and economics to help farmers, ranchers and foresters mitigate and adapt to the challenges of climate change Find the agenda and register HERE.
Join the Inventories and NDC (I&NDC) Network on 24 May from 13:00 – 14:30 (GMT/UTC) for the first session of their 2022 webinar series titled “The policy relevance of national GHG inventories in guiding mitigation for agriculture”. This webinar will bring together leading experts and industry stakeholders to discuss the relevance of national agriculture inventories in guiding policy decisions and questions including: Why are agriculture GHG inventories so crucial for policy decisions?How can industry organisations and the inventory work together?What…
Join FFAR for an informational webinar on May 24 at 1 p.m. ET to discuss the Greener Cattle Initiative’s call for research applications and learn more about this program. The Initiative, an industry collaborative created by the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) and Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, issued a request for applications to advance enteric methane reduction research. This funding opportunity specifically seeks research to develop scalable technologies that reduce enteric methane emissions and enhance sustainable production…
New Joint Research Mechanism on climate and agriculture launched between Ireland and New Zealand The Joint Research Initiative enables research calls to address the impact of high to medium-intensity grassland livestock systems on the climate and the environment. It builds on established research links between Ireland and New Zealand and strengthens existing cooperation and collaboration between funders and researchers on a bi-lateral basis. The first research call under this initiative has been launched – “Strategies, technologies and novel production systems…
Join the NZAGRC for their upcoming webinar titled "Managing pastoral systems to maintain or increase soil carbon and reduce nitrous oxide emissions". Soil organic carbon is originally derived from carbon dioxide inputs through photosynthesis while plant respiration continuously returns captured carbon to the atmosphere. Small changes in the balance of photosynthesis and respiration lead to either gains or losses of soil carbon. Globally, about 20% of the extra carbon dioxide accumulated in the atmosphere has come from the management of…
The 8th International Greenhouse Gas and Animal Agriculture Conference (GGAA) will be held 5 - 10 June 2022 in person in Orlando, Florida, USA and online. GGAA is attended by more than 400 delegates from over 40 countries. The conference will feature six prominent keynote speakers and a series of pre-conference workshops with an attendance limited to approximately 30 delegates per workshop. Meetings of the Global Research Alliance on Agriculture Greenhouse Gases will be hosted after the conference to enhance international…
The GRA Animal Health & Greenhouse Gas Emissions Intensity Network (AHN) focuses on the interplay between animal health and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from a systemic perspective. AHN aims to gather researchers, governments, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector to: Discuss and find inter-disciplinary approaches to understand and tackle the impacts of climate change on animal health and the impacts of animal health on the environment.Advance the process of integrating animal health interventions to policy settings. Workshop participants will: Have…
Attend this meeting to find out more about GRA Feed & Nutrition Network (FNN), CEDERS, the Global Network and the Flagship projects. You’ll hear updates about projects in progress and have an opportunity to explore the possibility of joining this concerted effort. FNN provides a collaborative forum for scientists to: Summarize and evaluate available data on mitigating GHG emissions of ruminants by nutritional meansDevelop sound recommendations on methane mitigation by nutritional means for stakeholdersIdentify gaps in knowledge and focus research…
African countries contribute to about 10% of enteric CH4 emissions from dairy cattle worldwide despite producing only 3.9% of the world’s milk. This is because livestock production in most Sub-Saharan African countries, by virtue of being dependent on low quality crop residues, leads to very high levels of enteric methane per unit of product, as compared to livestock systems in developed regions. Methane also represents an important loss of energy that could be otherwise channeled into growth or milk production…
The GRA Manure Management Network (MMN) is a global forum for scientists focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from livestock production and increasing the nutrient use efficiency of manures. Manure management is the handling, storage and disposal of urine and feces from livestock, other than the manure deposited directly onto pastures by grazing animals. MMN areas of research interest include: Improving our understanding of drivers of greenhouse gas emissions from manuresDeveloping a directory of mitigation strategies that can be applied…
