The Global Research Alliance (GRA) is very pleased to welcome Fiji as our 67th Member Country!
The vision of the Fijian Ministry of Agriculture is a sustainable, competitive, and resilient agriculture sector with the mission to create an enabling environment that accelerates sustainability, economic opportunities, climatic viability, food, and nutrition security for all Fijians. Fiji Ministry of Agriculture is eager to improve international cooperation, collaboration, and investment in public research activities. “The membership of the GRA will add value to our team in relevance to expert support and local capability building on climate change issues in the country.”
We look forward to working together to grow more food without growing more greenhouse gases.
The 67 member countries now participating in the activities of the Global Research Alliance are: Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Honduras, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Malaysia, Malawi, Mexico, Mongolia, Namibia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Samoa, Senegal, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uruguay, Viet Nam, Zambia, Zimbabwe
For more information on the GRA or how to become a member country please contact the GRA Secretariat.
Screening of Applications Begins: Immediately and continues until position is filled. For best consideration, apply by March 17, 2022.
Location: Kansas, USA
The USDA Southern Plains Climate Hub is partnering with Kansas State University to recruit a postdoc (Hub Fellow) that will be based in Manhattan, KS and will work with Logan Thompson, Susan Metzger and Andrés F. Cibils. They are seeking a highly motivated individual to work on livestock grazing and GHG dynamics in the Southern Plains.
For more information, click HERE.
Participants from 10 member countries of the Global Research Alliance (GRA) recently attended a meeting to plan the new GRA Flagship project “Development of context-specific emissions factors from the application of nitrogenous fertilisers” which was hosted by the Agricultural Climate Research Centre in Teagasc.
Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from agricultural applications of nitrogenous fertiliser can vary significantly depending on how, where and when a fertilizer is used. Modifying farm systems and making changes to management practices, such as fertilizer type, timing, amount, rate and location of fertilizer application, has been shown to dramatically influence the amount of N2O being emitted.
Marta Alfaro from Chile explained that the goal of the Flagship project is to encourage global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from nitrogenous fertilizer by enabling its usage to be more accurately reflected in national level greenhouse gas accounting, and to optimize nitrogen use efficiency in croplands and grasslands.
Tony van der Weerden from AgResearch New Zealand highlighted that quantifying the emissions from applying nitrogenous fertilizers in different situations in national inventories is a significant challenge for many countries. The Flagship project will greatly help in improving national greenhouse gas inventories around the world and identify practices for farmers to reduce emissions.
In Ireland and New Zealand research funding from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in Ireland and the Ministry of Primary Industries in New Zealand has been secured to build an international database to support greenhouse gas modelling for grassland soils. Dominika Krol, Teagasc said; ”This will help to support the GRA flagship project to compile existing data, and undertake new field measurements, to develop context specific emissions factors relating to the application of nitrogenous fertilizers for the purpose of inventory improvement including N2O mitigation accounting.”
Karl Richards, Teagasc said that these exciting international projects are important ongoing research activities in the Teagasc Agricultural Climate Research Centre to help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from farms in Ireland and internationally.
Further Information
https://www.teagasc.ie/environment/climate-action/climate-centre/
https://globalresearchalliance.org/flagship-projects/n-fertilisers/
An online consultation is being organized by the FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia on good examples and practices on green agriculture in the region but also beyond.
Your contributions to the online debate will be compiled and analyzed and will inform future work on the development of guidance for strengthening science-policy interfaces as well as science- and evidence-based policy processes for greening agrifood systems.
Please register to the Regional Technical Platform on Green Agriculture here to create new threads of discussions.
If you would like to receive similar information from FAO you can join the Livestock, Climate and Environment Community of Action here.
RUFORUM Global Research Alliance Graduate Research Grants
Call for proposals for Doctoral Research Grants & Graduate Research Grants – 2023
Closing Date: 30 March 2023
The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM; www.ruforum.org) and the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA; https://globalresearchalliance.org/) invite applications from RUFORUM Member Universities for the second Global Research Alliance Graduate Research Grants (GRA-GRG) call. The GRA-GRG is aimed at building the capability of graduate students and post-graduate scientists in Africa to conduct applied research on agricultural greenhouse gases in non-Annex I countries in Africa.
Information on how to apply can be found here: http://ruforum.org/call-proposals-research-grants
A recording of the February 2023 Farm To Regional Scale Integration Network Webinar, titled “Rethinking Tools to Assess Impacts from Dairy Farms Beyond Greenhouse Gas Emissions“, is now available to view.
This webinar brought experts together to discuss indicators for environmental impact assessment of dairy farms other than greenhouse gas emissions. The speakers shared their experiences using multiple indicators for an impact assessment on dairy farms and discussed potential trade-offs between these indicators. The webinar included presentations from:
- Dr. Catherine Pfeifer (FiBL, Switzerland): “A food system perspective to livestock husbandry, why we should look beyond greenhouse gases?”
- Dr. Alan Rotz (USDA, USA): “Local, regional and national environmental assessment of United States Dairy Farms”
- Dr. Monika Zehetmeier (LFL, Germany): “Insight from the LfL Klima-Check”
Global assessment of soil carbon in grasslands
From current stock estimates to sequestration potential
Anthropogenic activities such as intensive livestock grazing, agricultural management practices, and other land-use activities contribute to the loss of soil carbon in grasslands. The FAO Livestock Environmental Assessment and Performance (FAO LEAP) Partnership developed a Global assessment of soil carbon in grasslands: From current stock estimates to sequestration potential, in collaboration with France’s Institut national de la recherche agronomique (INRAE). The study provides a spatially explicit report on the state of grassland soils in the world and estimates the potential of grasslands to sequester carbon in soils.
Deadline: 1 March 2023
We would like to draw your attention to the call for papers for a QOpen Special Issue:
Please consider submitting and help to spread the word!
Closing Date: 24 February 2023, 12pm (Irish Time)
Location: Teagasc, Ireland
Full information on this role and how to apply can be found HERE.
Background
The Teagasc post-doctoral programme provides training and development opportunities for early career scientists that enhances their experience of learning and equips them with the necessary skills for the next stage of their chosen career in research.
The agri-food sector is Ireland’s largest indigenous industry and a key player in the national economy. Sustainability of ruminant production has implications for the environment, the economy and food security. ‘Microbiome’ is a term that describes the genome of all the microorganisms, symbiotic and pathogenic, living in and on all vertebrates. Microbiomes associated with the host play a key role in health, welfare and environmental efficiency in ruminant production systems. This post doctoral fellowship is part of a large international project called ‘HoloRuminant’, funded by the EU Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2014-2020). The goal of the project is to elucidate the development and role of ruminant-associated microbiomes and their interplay with the host in early life and throughout fundamental life events. The project will use a holistic multi-omics approach to characterise the acquisition and evolution of microbiomes from different ruminant body sites and their influence on the host’s resistance to disease and environmental efficiency of production. The project will determine microbiomes’ functions by combining multi-level information for microbes, host and their interaction; define microbiomes’ roles during challenging life periods such as perinatal, weaning, and after exposure to pathogens; and evaluate the effect of ruminant microbiomes on critical phenotypes for sustainable production, health and welfare.
This is a research focused training role, the primary purpose of which is to provide early career scientists with the opportunity to develop their research skills and competencies.
The PD Fellow will, while working in conjunction with senior research staff, gain insight and experience into a variety of areas including the processes of project and budgetary management, publishing in peer-reviewed academic journals, writing grant applications, and attracting external funding; the development of active collaboration with relevant national and international research communities; the development of communication and presentation skills, leadership and management skills, and overall career development.
Modules will be conducted under the supervision and direction of the (Project Leader) or other designated manager in conjunction with the Head of Department.
We are pleased to welcome the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) as the latest formal Partner of the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases!
Headquartered in the Republic of Korea, GGGI is a treaty-based intergovernmental organization that was established to support developing country governments’ transition to a model of green growth that promotes economic growth to meet development aspirations while solving the climate crisis and protecting natural capital, with a strong focus on nature-based solutions and reducing social inequities.
GGGI currently has 45 Member countries plus another 20+ Partner countries (aspiring Members) and has operations in over 40 developing countries and emerging economies – and growing – to implement actions that reconcile short-term development needs with a long-term green growth vision. GGGI supports its Members and Partners to: (1) develop green growth policies, ambitious NDCs and LTS/LEDS for the Paris Agreement; and (2) originates, develops, structures and mobilizes finance for green investment projects. To date (end 2022) GGGI mobilized around USD8 billion in green and climate finance for investments and sustainable finance instruments such as green bonds.
We are delighted that GGGI, as a GRA partner, is looking forward to potentially expanding the membership of both organizations and establishing complementary initiatives in member countries. Additionally, in accordance with GGGI’s mandate and expertise, GGGI is proposing to contribute to GRA’s objective to increase and/or mobilize investment for mitigation practices and technologies to develop more efficient and productive agricultural systems by supporting governments in preparing bankable projects (e.g., based on GRA’s research work and breakthrough solutions) and in identifying potential financing.
Learn more about GGGI here: https://www.gggi.org/
We are pleased to welcome the Africa Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes (ANAPRI), registered as ReNAPRI, as the newest formal Partner of the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases!
Headquartered in Zambia, ANAPRI’s vision is to be a dynamic Pan-African network of universally recognized national agricultural policy research institutes that generate relevant and high-quality evidence, to guide and inform effective policy decisions that promote sustainable solutions across the continent.
ANAPRI’s mission is to play an active role in transforming Africa’s agricultural sector by developing the capacity of national agricultural policy research Institutes in the continent, strengthening, and nurturing dynamic collaboration, towards providing objective and innovative policy advice to national, regional, and continental level stakeholders, through effective outreach.
Of particular relevance to the GRA, ANAPRI is currently coordinating the USAID and African Union Commission supported project CACCI (Comprehensive Action for Climate Change Initiative), which aims to help countries that have ratified the Paris Agreement to adapt and build resilience to the effects of climate change. The programme will build local and regional capacity, and institutional infrastructure, and develop an Africa-wide accountability platform that not only informs debate at the continental level, but also informs global discussion on climate change mitigation and adaptation.
We are delighted that ANAPRI, as a GRA partner, is looking forward to engaging with GRA members to explore potential joint opportunities and co-development of future work plans.
Check out the ANAPRI website here: https://www.renapri.org/
A recording of the November 2022 Croplands Research Group Webinar, titled “Predicting Soil Organic Carbon Dynamics in Long-term Agricultural Experiments Using the CQESTR Model”, is now available to view.
This webinar session featured a presentation from Dr. Hero Gollany (USDA).
Click HERE to view the webinar recording.