The University of Reading’s Centre for Dairy Research (CEDAR) hosted the Global ReseArCH4 inveN2Ory workshop on Friday 31 October. This UK workshop supported the work of the Global Research Alliance and was an opportunity for academics and industry from across the world to view the latest measurement techniques, particularly around methane and nitrous oxide emitted by livestock, soil and manure. Follow the media links below to read more about the workshop
http://www.farmbusiness.cc/news.asp?section=248&newsid=10869
http://www.nfuonline.com/News/The-tricky-task-of-measuring-GHG-emissions/
Large swathes of the world’s grasslands are moderately to severely degraded — restoring them to a healthy state could remove gigatonnes of carbon from the atmosphere and improve resilience to climate change.
The new methodology has been developed by FAO in collaboration with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the World Agroforestry Centre. The collaboration has identified a more reliable and affordable way to measure how much carbon is being trapped in agricultural mitigation projects. Read the article
Expressions of Interest (EOI) for the New Zealand Fund for Global Partnerships in Livestock Emissions Research (the Fund) are now being called. The Fund is aimed at accelerating global research into mitigating greenhouse gas emissions from pastoral livestock farming.
The Fund is open to international scientists, and it is hoped that multi-stakeholder/country consortia bids will be put forward. Projects can be led by New Zealand or international participants, but must include a New Zealand partner. Co-funding from international participants is also required.
Round 1 of the Fund totals NZ$16 million, and supports projects up to four years in duration. The cost of individual projects is expected to be in the range of NZ$1-4 million over the four years.
The Fund will seek proposals in response to a set of high-level research challenges that have been identified by an international strategic science panel, chaired by the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor Professor Sir Peter Gluckman. These challenges are in the areas of:
• Manipulating rumen function
• Reducing nitrous oxide emissions from soils in predominantly grazing livestock systems
• Manipulating the rates of soil carbon change in predominantly grazing livestock systems
• Improved tools for farmer decision making in predominantly grazing livestock systems
There is a two-stage application process beginning with a short expression of interest (EOI) which closes 7 November 2011. Successful EOI applicants are then invited to submit full proposals. Projects from Round 1 that gain approval are expected to commence in July 2012.
Please visit www.maf.govt.nz/nzlivestockemissionsfund to obtain further information on the fund. Alternatively, applicants that wish to can proceed via the Government Electronic Services Tender (GETS) process and obtain the information and documents from www.gets.govt.nz.
The FAO has launched a new Global Soil Partnership for Food security and Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation.
The partnership is developing an Action Plan on sustainable soil management that will develop synergies between partners and bring together work currently being done separately on soil survey, assessment and monitoring, soil productivity, soil carbon, soil biodiversity and ecology and soil and water conservation. Read the article
Canada’s Agricultural Greenhouse Gases Program (AAGP), represents a five-year, $27-million initiative that focuses on the development of on-farm greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation technologies and is Canada’s initial contribution to the Global Research Alliance. The AGGP will provide funding to various partners across Canada to investigate innovative mechanisms, tools and approaches to provide real solutions for the agriculture sector.
The AAGP is funding Nova Scotia Agricultural College in a project to advance and develop greenhouse gas mitigation technologies that will allow producers to understand and apply nitrogen in a more efficient, cost-effective and environmentally responsible manner, thereby reducing its impact on air and water quality. This will lead to better soil fertility, reduced nitrous oxide emissions, and a decrease in other environmental impacts, such as water contamination. Read the full article
In October 2010, the Livestock Research Group of the Global Research Alliance identified an initial set of priority projects that it considered would greatly assist the international research effort into livestock GHG mitigation. These included establishing research networks in rumen microbial genomics and animal genomics, producing best practice guidelines and technical manuals for the measurement of CH4 and N20, conducting a global survey of rumen microbial diversity, and the testing of a novel in-field CH4 system.
These first priority projects are now coming to an end. Download and read the project reports under the Global Research Alliance > Project Reports section on the website of the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Centre who administered the projects on behalf the Livestock Research Group.
As demand grows for new means of feeding a global population expected to reach 9.5 billion this century, scientists worry that funding for agricultural research is falling around the world.
Dr Richard Richards of the Australian science agency CSIRO’s plant industry division said scientists from a wide spectrum of disciplines would be needed.”We need to combine advances in genetic technologies with opportunities for better crop management.” Read the full article.
The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), the world’s largest international agriculture research coalition, approved six new programs, totalling some $957 million, aimed at improving food security and the sustainable management of the water, soils, and biodiversity that underpin agriculture in the world’s poorest countries.
Read more at the CGIAR fund website.
Voice of America article on the aims of the Alliance to meet food and climate change concerns “We’re bringing together two big ideas here. The world’s got to produce a whole truckload of more food in the next 30 years to feed three billion more people that are going to be on the planet…. And we’ve got to try and reduce the emissions intensity of that,” said Tim Groser, New Zealand’s minister of trade, who’s also responsible for the country’s climate change negotiations. Read the full article
The Wall Street Journal links the Global Research Alliance with a speech made by Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations. “Climate change is estimated to have increased the global food bill by $50 billion a year. Mr. Carter argues that science will be able to deliver where politics has failed: to devise a global approach to tackling food security and climate change, two of the world’s most pressing issues” Read the full article
Farming First reports on the Ministerial Summit and the Launch of the Latin America Research Partnership funded to meet the goals of the Alliance.
The New Agriculturalist posts a news article on the Ministerial Summit “The reality is that globally, not enough research has been focused on reducing agruicultural greenhouse gases, compared to other sectors such as energy and transport. The Alliance changes this.” Read the full article
The inaugural Ministerial Summit of the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases took place on Friday 24 June 2011 in Rome, Italy.
The Summit was an opportunity to bring together Ministers and other representatives from Alliance countries to formally launch the Alliance’s working phase. This was marked by the signing of the Alliance Charter, along with presentations from the Chairs of the Alliance’s Research and Cross-Cutting Groups, and statements from individual countries. The event was hosted by New Zealand. Read the summary report from the Ministerial Summit here.
- Heads of Delegations at the Alliance Ministerial Summit
Participants
Thirty three countries were represented at the Summit: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, the Philippines, Republic of Korea, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, UK, USA, Uruguay and Vietnam.
Alliance Member Countries Media Reporting
Australia – Parliamentary Secretary attends meeting of G20 Agriculture Ministers
Canada – Government of Canada Promotes Open Trade & Innovation on World Stage
ew Zealand has established a contestable, international fund worth NZ$25 million to support research on mitigating greenhouse gas emissions from pastoral farming.
New Zealand Agriculture Minister David Carter announced the New Zealand Fund for Global Partnerships in Livestock Emissions Research at the inaugural ministerial meeting of the Global Research Alliance in Rome on 24 June 2011.
Read more about the fund and how to apply at the New Zealand Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry website.
A recent posting on ‘Investment in agriculture and access to markets will help to feed the world’ from the Poverty Matters Blog ahead of the G20 agriculture meeting mentions the Global Research Alliance as an excellent example of coordinating research resources.
“at the global level, new alliances are coming together to co-ordinate research funding and policy harmonisation. A great example of this the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases, which brings together more than 30 governments to pool funding allocations and co-ordinate research. The alliance’s goal is to improve the agricultural system’s ability to grow more food without increasing greenhouse gas emissions.”
Read the complete post at the Poverty Matters Blog on the Guardian.co.uk website.