A podcast centring around food systems and the various questions surrounding them is set to be released soon. Aptly titled Feed, the podcast will look at critical food systems issues, and aim to start a conversation about how we understand and engage with food systems. Feed is run by a collaboration between the University of Oxford, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Wagenigen University,
For further information and to listen to a teaser episode, click the button below:
Figure: Long-term experiment of conservation agriculture in Zimbabwe. A change in soil tillage and soil cover impacts SOC, GHGs, but also albedo. © Rémi Cardinael.
On 3-4 December 2020, the French Agricultural Research Center for International Development (CIRAD) and the CLAND Convergence Institute organized, with the support of the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA) and the 4 per 1000 Initiative, a virtual workshop entitled “Can albedo change offset the climate benefit of carbon sequestrating practices?“. The overall objective was to discuss the relevance of current carbon-centered accounting systems to assess climate change mitigation potentials of land use change and management.
This workshop gathered twelve top keynote speakers to provide the most up-to-date knowledge about the potential offset or enhancement of the climate benefit of carbon sequestrating practices, identify knowledge gaps and propose a way forward for future research projects.
This virtual event gathered more than 300 participants, from 52 countries and 156 different institutes. Most of the participants (89%) were from universities and research centers, 60% were from Europe, 17% from Asia, and 14% from North America.
All presentations were recorded and available in replay here:
http://albedocc.lsce.ipsl.fr/index.php/presentations
The climate benefit of best management practices is often quantified through the change in biochemical effects, i.e., soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks and greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions. However, biochemical effects do not stand alone. Planting trees, covering the soil, reducing tillage, adding organic amendments (compost, biochar…), etc, also modify biophysical effects, for example, albedo.
Surface albedo is the fraction of incident solar radiation that is reflected back to the atmosphere, measured on a scale from 0 (100% absorption, 0% reflection) to 1 (0% absorption, 100% reflection). A modification in surface albedo affects top-of-atmosphere albedo and thus the amount of solar energy absorbed by Earth.
It is now well documented that afforestation of boreal regions would have no climate benefit given the negative radiative forcing due to reduced atmospheric CO2 concentration by carbon sequestration in trees and soils (biochemical effect) is offset by decreased surface albedo (biophysical effect) leading to warming and a positive radiative forcing.
However, comparing biochemical and biophysical effects is not straightforward. There are differences in the spatial extent of the two forcings. CO2 is well-mixed in Earth’s atmosphere thus imposing a spatially homogeneous forcing while a change in surface albedo is more localized.
A lot of progress has been made to compare these effects, but metrics still need to be improved. The first day of the workshop was mainly focused on methodological aspects related to quantifying and comparing these effects, as well as on techniques to measure albedo from field studies to remote sensing. During the second day, keynote speakers presented different studies comparing biochemical and biophysical effects for different practices such as cover crops, chlorophyll-deficient crops, biochar, bioenergy crops and forest management.
It was concluded that biophysical effects are significant and failing to account for example for surface albedo can result in suboptimal or even counterproductive climate-motivated policies of the land-based sectors.
The climate benefit of biochar is for example largely reduced when albedo is considered. In contrast, cover crops in Central and West Europe as a general rule of thumb have been shown to increase SOC, reduce GHGs, and increase albedo, potentially a win-win-win strategy.
However, the effect of a given practice on climate is highly context-specific and could have undesirable effects depending on soil type and climate. More field data to explore a diversity of pedoclimatic contexts combined with a diversity of land use and management is required.
Biophysical effects are also very important contributing factors to mitigate local temperature extremes and can play a role in adaptation to climate change. At present, the description of management practices is too coarse in climate models and a better coupling these with soil-crop models could improve the assessment of practices on local, regional and global climate.
Albedo is not the only biophysical effect to consider. The change in the energy balance also has implications for the water cycle, especially for evapotranspiration. For example, forests have a lower albedo than crops or grasslands (warming effect), but a much higher evapotranspiration (cooling effect). Other aspects to consider are changes in surface roughness and emission of volatile organic compounds, affecting turbulent fluxes and the water cycle.
The role of biophysical effects such as albedo on climate change, in relation to management practices, has been scarcely studied, especially for non-forested ecosystems such as croplands and grasslands. The relationship between the two is a crucial information gap that must be filled in the coming decade by the scientific community.
The New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Centre is now looking for an experienced scientist to join their senior management team. As Deputy Director your duties include supporting the Director, developing greenhouse gas mitigation research programmes, contributing to domestic and international research contracts, establishing relationships with key stakeholders, providing knowledge on climate change and more!
An ideal candidate would have a PhD in a climate change related discipline, experience in leadership and an understanding of working with government departments and international fora. The position can be based in various locations, namely Hamilton, Christchurch, Dunedin and Palmerston North.
Applications close on the 10th of March 2021. For further information and information on how to apply, follow the link below.
On February the 23rd (1pm EST), FONTAGRO are running a webstream centring around how to build and support resilient agricultural systems. The event will focus on Latin America, Central America, the Caribbean and New Zealand, but resilient agriculture is a topic that will continue to become more prevalent as more is understood about climate change.
This webstream will be broadcast live on the FONTAGRO website, which is linked below in Spanish and English.
A collaborative working paper developed by Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Safety (CCAFS) as support by the GRA to the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CAC) has been released focusing on the development of an assessment framework. Countries can use this to assess needs and opportunities when it comes to improving measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) of greenhouse gas emissions from livestock. The framework is made up of 13 questions that are then used in an 8-step assessment.
The report can be found in our library linked below:
Held virtually on the 9th and 10th of December in 2020, the CRG Annual Meeting provided a variety of updates on what the group is doing, and how work is continuing despite the global situation. A final report summarising the meeting can be found below:
The virtual presentations shown at the Annual Meeting can also be found on the GRA website here:
A recording of the Manure Management Network webinar is now available to view. This webinar session was facilitated by LRG Co-Chair Dr Sinead Waters, Teagasc and included a presentation on the Manure Management Network from Prof. Dave Chadwick, Bangor University, Wales, UK; an overview of the DATAMAN project by Dr Tony van der Weerden, AgResearch, New Zealand; and an outline of the MELS – Mitigating greenhouse gas emissions from livestock systems – project by Associate Prof. Barbara Amon, Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy and University of Zielona Góra, Poland.
Recordings from the GFFA panel: “the power of many: Enhancing climate change mitigation through agricultural research networks (in times of pandemics)” can be found here
Watch the GRA expert panel presentation by Hayden Montgomery Global Research Alliance Special representative and Nina Graßnick Thuenen Institute below.
Further information on the presentation & GFFA can be found below.
The final report from the 12th annual Livestock Research Group (LRG) is now available online
The 12th annual meeting of the Livestock Research Group (LRG) of the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA) was held virtually for the first time, given the current travel restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The meeting took place over two days and was chaired by Jeroen Dijkman, New Zealand, Sinead Waters, Ireland, and Richard Dewhurst, United Kingdom (co-chairs of the LRG).
This report is a summary of the key discussions and outcomes of the meeting. The online on-demand materials that were prepared in advance of the meeting are of high quality and will serve as an ongoing publicly available resource.
The 2020 Livestock Research Group annual meeting report can now be downloaded below.
To watch all of the presentations click this link here
The Global Research Alliance in partnership with The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM), a consortium of 129 Universities in 38 African Countries, is pleased to announce the recipients of the two year Graduate Research Grants (GRGs) funded by the Governments of New Zealand and the Netherlands, in support of the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases.
The grants are aimed at building the capability of graduate and post-graduate level students in Africa to conduct applied research on agricultural greenhouse gases. The call for the grants attracted 72 applicants from 21 African countries from which eight final awardees were selected following evaluation by external reviewers and compliance to RUFORUM grant award requirement which requires that beneficiary universities have cleared their membership dues and have no overdue accountabilities
The GRA is 64 country alliance which brings countries together to find ways to grow more food without growing greenhouse gas emissions.
These Graduate Research Grants support participatory action research and training on topics related to the measurement and management of greenhouse gas emissions and removals in pastoral and agro-pastoral ruminant livestock farming systems in Africa.
To Read the RUFORUM press release and see the 8 awardees click here
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has launched its Climate Change Knowledge Hub (CC-Hub). The CC-Hub gathers all existing knowledge and resources on climate change in the agriculture and land use sectors. Its interactive features allow users to connect with peers, experts and capacity building providers. It also provides data, learning materials and activities, guidelines, policy advice and tools. The CC-Hub’s overall aim is to enhance countries’ knowledge and capacity to deliver on their climate and sustainable development goals.
The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) has published a call for postdoctoral fellowships in climate research in Africa.
The DAAD climapAfrica programme in cooperation with the climate competence centers SASSCAL and WASCAL aims to foster application- oriented research results to tackle climate change in southern and western Africa.
The programme funds postdoctoral research projects and offers a platform for collaboration in thematic working groups composed of postdoctoral fellows and African alumni of German funding initiatives with expertise in the field of climate research.
Fellows and Alumni experts will increase their research impact and output through a comprehensive training and support programme, including general skills training, science policy advising and science management. The working groups serve as a platform to connect with peers, regional and international experts and practitioners and to build a growing professional network across Africa.
Application deadline: 15 February 2021.
Applicants must be nationals of an African country and must be willing to realise their project at a host institution in western or southern Africa.
For more information about this programme and to apply click here.