Webinar Series: Land Use and Climate Research by the CGIAR

We are proud to announce a new webinar series: 

Land Use and Climate Research by the CGIAR, supported by USAID’s Office of Global Climate Change.

Greenhouse gas emissions and carbon storage in the land sector are the focus of research through the CGIAR funded by USAID. The research includes advances in monitoring, reporting, and verification; identification and prioritization of interventions; assessments of the status of global initiatives; application of biophysical data to develop investment plans; and new data on global carbon stocks, fluxes, and drivers of loss. Collectively, this series showcases the collaboration of USAID and the CGIAR to help limit the magnitude of changes to the climate system.

Each of the presentations below will be hosted by the CGIAR research center or program affiliated with the presenter. They include: The Center for International Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), and the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF). Much of this work has been done in close collaboration with the Low Emissions Development Flagship of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security (CCAFS).

Noel Gurwick and Juliann Aukema

Office of Global Climate Change, US Agency for International Development

Identifying Opportunities for Reducing Emissions from Livestock, and Creating an Investment Plan | July 10, 2019 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM EDT

The webinar will present the context of livestock sector in East Africa, including with climate finance, overview the feasibility of ten low emissions development (LED) interventions for the livestock sectors in Kenya and Ethiopia and present an investment study on one of the most promising options: improving availability of quality feeds for the smallholder dairy sub-sector, specifically by improving forages. The second half of the webinar will feature questions and discussion.

Topics and expert speakers are:

  • Overview of the livestock sector in East Africa - emissions, gender, livelihoods, food security, estimated growth, NDCs and climate financing (Lini Wollenberg, CCAFS)
  • Feasibility and investment options in Kenya, gender considerations, specific policy and financing options going forward (Polly Ericksen, ILRI)
  • Understanding pathways toward low-emissions livestock: evidence from Kenya and Tanzania (Todd Crane, ILRI)
  • Discussion and questions, facilitated by Lini Wollenberg

Presentations:

Total Running Time

1:01:06

Making trees count: Measurement, reporting and verification of agroforestry-based carbon | June 25, 2019 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM EDT

Over a third (59 of 147) of developing countries have proposed agroforestry as a climate change mitigation activity to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). While countries have ambition to expand agroforestry, their capabilities to measure, report and verify (MRV) agroforestry actions and their carbon impacts are limited. So how can we make agroforestry trees count in global climate action efforts? The public is welcome to hear presentations on the latest science and join the conversation. This webinar will:

  • Assess countries' ambitions and capabilities to implement MRV in agroforestry
  • Explore a user-friendly and cost-effective approach to identifying agroforestry used in Southeast Asia
  • Summarize the revised Tier 1 factors on agroforestry carbon stock change factors and explain why they are critical to improved MRV and national reporting 
  • Investigate how inter-governmental dialogue on silvopastoral systems in Latin America is overcoming institutional barriers to agroforestry MRV

Speakers/Presentations: 

Total Running Time

1:00:23

Low-Emissions Rice in Vietnam: Options, Ambition, Feasibility and Investment | May 29, 2019 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM EDT

Vietnam was one of the first countries to ratify the UNFCCC. With domestic resources, Viet Nam's National Determined Contribution will reduce GHG emissions by 8% by 2030 compared to business-as-usual (BAU) scenario. This contribution could be increased by up to 25% with international support. A large part of Viet Nam's mitigation plan involves agriculture, specifically in the rice sector. In this webinar, experts will present a comprehensive, comparative analysis of potentially viable low emissions development practices and supporting interventions in the rice supply chain.

And what will move the needle from feasible practices to large-scale adoption? Both a domestic investment plan and an international investment proposal for alternate wetting and drying (AWD), a production technique which reduces greenhouse gas emissions and water use while often benefitting farmers, will be presented. Next steps in the development and implementation of Viet Nam's NDC will be summarized. The second half of the webinar will feature a question and answer session with the virtual audience.

Speakers:

  • B. Ole Sander, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)
  • Leocadio Sebastian, CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS)
  • Tran Van The, Institute for Agricultural Environment, Government of Vietnam
  • Lini Wollenberg, CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) (TBC)

Total Running Time

59:31

 

Shaping wetlands policy with science for effective actions to address climate change | May 13, 2019 18.00-19.30 Japan Time (GMT+5)

Moderator: Daniel Murdiyarso, CIFOR

Speakers: 

  • Ms Erlin Ekapuri, Lestari (Peatlands) Project
  • Dr Haruni Krisnawati, ITPC Coordinator/MOEF
  • Mr Nev Kemp, Lestari (Mangroves) Project
  • Dr Rupesh K. Bhomia, CIFOR
  • Dr Pham Thu Thuy, CIFOR

Key points: 

  1. Capacity development and the role of science for effective implementation of policy for sustainable wetlands management
  2. Community and ecosystem resilience in the changing world
  3. From local issues to global context: a multi-level governance of wetlands
  4. Global south collaboration

Total Running Time

01:59:26

 

Landscape restoration in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and Initiative 20x20 – what is happening on the ground? | March 26, 2019 10:00 AM EDT (UTC-4)

Speakers:

  • Ruben Coppus, CIAT
  • Erika Romijn, Wageningen University

Key points:

  1. Mapping out landscape restoration projects in the region: their characteristics and potential for biomass accumulation
  2.  The role of the private and financial sector: bottlenecks and solutions
  3. Syntheses for “Comparative Research Project on Landscape Restoration”

Total Running Time

1:22:14

 

Webinars on Land Use and Climate Research by the CGIAR, supported by USAID’s Office of Global Climate Change

  • March 26, 2019: Forest Restoration and the 20x20 Initiative: How Are We Doing and What Can We Expect?
    • Ruben Coppus, CIAT
    • Erika Romijn, Wageningen University
  • May 13, 2019: Wetlands: Shaping Policy with Finance? 
    • Daniel Murdiyarso, CIFOR
  • May 29, 2019: Low-Emissions Rice in Vietnam: Options, Ambition, Feasibility, and Investment
    • Ole Sander, IRRI
  • June 2019: Making trees count: Measurement, reporting and verification of agroforestry-based carbon
    • Todd Rosenstock, ICRAF
  • July 2019: Identifying Opportunities for Reducing Emissions from Livestock, and Creating an Investment Plan
    • Polly Ericksen, ILRI
  • August 2019: Climate Variability, Drought, and Fire: Hotspots of current and future fire risk in the tropics
    • Lou Verchot, CIAT, Rosa Roman-Cuesta CIFOR
  • September 2019: Wetlands: Lessons from Indonesia for South America
    • Daniel Murdiyarso, CIFOR
  • October 2019: FLR and fire: assessing permanence risks under forest landscape restoration
    • Rosa Roman-Cuesta, CIFOR
  • November 2019: Mangroves under hurricane risk reduction policies in the Caribbean: management needs beyond adaptation and mitigation
    • Rosa Roman-Cuesta, CIFOR