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February 22, 2021   •   News

Five African countries include agriculture in their updated NDC’s: Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Zambia and Senegal

Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Zambia and Senegal have communicated agriculture sector specific mitigation measures in their updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC’s). All five countries have unconditional economy wide emission reduction targets of 29% – 54% in 2030 relative to their BAU (or 2010 base year emissions for Zambia).

Including agriculture specific mitigation measures in the NDC is especially significant given agriculture emissions are key drivers of emissions across the five African countries, albeit responsible for variable proportions of the total emission profile. Implementing these mitigation measures will face different barriers in each country but communicating the intention to mitigate agriculture emissions is the first step.

Key points from each country’s enhanced NDC as they relate to agriculture emissions are summarised here.

Kenya

  • Kenya’s enhanced NDC communicates an economy wide emission reduction target relative to BAU in 2030 of at least 32%. 
  • Key policies for agriculture emission reductions include the National Livestock Policy 2015, the Agriculture Sector Transformation and Growth Strategy (ASTGS) (2019 – 2029), the Kenya Climate Smart Agriculture Strategy (2017 – 2028) among others.
  • Mitigation measures for Agriculture Sector emissions will be achieved by Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) in line with Kenya’s CSA Strategy, “with emphasis to efficient livestock management systems”.
  • Kenya’s adaptation measures include using CSA practices to increase livestock system efficiencies and to build resilience of agriculture systems through sustainable land management.

Ethiopia

  • The BAU analysis is based on a newly adopted Tier 2 inventory for livestock GHG emissions and livestock are projected to be the biggest single emission source in 2030 in the BAU scenario
  • Ethiopia’s economy wide emissions reduction target relative to BAU in 2030 is 12.4% unconditional and a further 41.1% conditional on international support to a total reduction of 53.5%.
  • Of the total livestock emission reductions will contribute 30.4 MtCO2e or 13.8% of the total 220.59 MtCO2e required by 2030 across all sectors.
  • Mitigation measures will be achieved predominantly as improvements to agriculture production efficiencies and changes to agricultural practices.

Rwanda

Figure 1: Rwanda’s economy wide mitigation contributions in 2030.

  • Rwanda’s economy wide emission reduction target relative to BAU in 2030 is 16% unconditional (1.9 MtCO2e) and a further 22% (2.7 MtCO2e) conditional on international support, to a combined total of 38% as shown in figure 1.
  • Agriculture contributes 55% of Rwanda’s total emissions. The largest sources of emissions are methane from enteric fermentation in cattle systems, N2O emissions from managed soils and emissions from manure management.
  • Rwanda’s agriculture mitigation measures will contribute 2.24 MtCO2e (figure 1) in 2030 and include a number of soil conservation practices, compost production and livestock measures.
  • Adaptation measures for agriculture include developing and promoting climate resilient crops and livestock, adopting best crop management practices and developing sustainable land use management practices.
  • Rwanda’s NDC is aligned with several existing national policies including the Green Growth and Climate Resilient Strategy (GGCRS) (2011).

Figure 2: Rwanda’s agriculture mitigation strategies as a percentage of the total mitigation potential of the agriculture sector. 

Zambia

  • Zambia’s economy wide emissions reduction target relative to 2010 emission levels is 25% unconditional (20 MtCO2e) and a further 22% conditional on international support to a total reduction of 47% (38 MtCO2e) in 2030.
  • Zambia’s major mitigation measures for agriculture are i) conservation and sustainable agriculture and ii) improving agriculture production efficiencies.

Senegal

  • Senegal’s economy wide emission reduction target relative to BAU in 2030 is 7% unconditional and a further 22% conditional on international support to a total reduction of 29%. This equates to unconditional emission reductions of 2.66 MtCO2e and a total of 11.2 MtCO2e in the conditional target.
  • Agriculture emissions accounted for about 44% of Senegal’s total emissions in 2010.
  • The emission reduction targets for agriculture are 0.25 MtCO2e in the unconditional and 1.27 MtCO2e in the conditional scenario.
  • Agriculture mitigation measures are aligned with the Program to Relaunch and Accelerate the Cadence of Senegalese Agriculture (PRACAS2, 2019-2023) and the Livestock Development Policy (2017-2021)
  • Mitigation measures include assisted natural regeneration, composting, biogas and implementing the system of rice intensification (SRI)
  • Several adaptation measures are listed, including sustainable land management, agroforestry and use of early warning systems and climate information services.

Country NDC’s:

Kenya: https://www4.unfccc.int/sites/ndcstaging/PublishedDocuments/Kenya%20First/Kenya’s%20First%20%20NDC%20(updated%20version).pdf 

Ethiopia: https://www4.unfccc.int/sites/ndcstaging/PublishedDocuments/Ethiopia%20First/Ethiopia’s%20NDC%20update%20summary%202020.pdf 

Rwanda: https://www4.unfccc.int/sites/ndcstaging/PublishedDocuments/Rwanda%20First/Rwanda_Updated_NDC_May_2020.pdf 

Zambia: https://www4.unfccc.int/sites/ndcstaging/PublishedDocuments/Zambia%20First/Zambia_Provisional_Updated_NDC_2020.pdf 

Senegal (in French): https://www4.unfccc.int/sites/ndcstaging/PublishedDocuments/Senegal%20First/CDNSenegal%20approuv%C3%A9e-pdf-.pdf