Greenhouse Gas Inventory Training Week
Six greenhouse gas inventory specialists and researchers from developing countries visit New Zealand to learn about the compilation of the New Zealand national agricultural greenhouse gas inventory.
As part of its contribution to the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA), New Zealand hosted six agricultural greenhouse gas inventory specialists, researchers, and government officials from Malawi, Uganda, Uruguay, Mexico, Colombia, and Indonesia from 8 to 12 April 2019.
During the training week, the group learnt about the New Zealand experience in developing the inventory methodology and prioritising research for inventory improvements, particularly for greenhouse gas emissions from livestock.
They attended the New Zealand Agricultural Climate Change Conference (NZACCC) in Palmerston North, hosted by the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre (NZAGRC). The conference was attended by more than 270 scientists, farmers, industry representatives, and policy makers coming together to discuss climate change mitigation and adaptation in the New Zealand context, and included 20 presentations from New Zealand-based experts in their fields, as well as panel discussions and questions from the floor. The conference also included a presentation by the GRA Special Representative, Hayden Montgomery, on ten years of international leadership through GRA research projects and collaboration.
Following the conference, the group participated in the 2019 Agriculture Greenhouse Gas Inventory Research Workshop, organised by the Ministry for Primary Industries. The workshop was attended by over 50 New Zealand scientists in addition to the international guests, with 13 countries represented in total. The workshop included updates on research projects relating to the New Zealand Agriculture Inventory, and four research priority discussion sessions on soil carbon, nitrous oxide emissions, methane and manure management emissions, and finally on data and modelling. The international guests presented their national perspectives on the strengths of their national inventories, as well as issues they are currently facing in improving their inventory methodologies.
Finally, the group met with officials from the New Zealand Ministry for the Environment, the New Zealand agency in charge of compiling the New Zealand inventory, and from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. They learnt about New Zealand’s inventory arrangements and how statistics are collected for the agricultural inventory, and how they might tackle improvements in their inventories through drawing on experience from New Zealand’s senior agriculture inventory expert from the Ministry for Primary Industries.
At the New Zealand Agricultural Climate Change Conference