The Climate Change Curriculum, developed by the U.S. Agency for International Development LEAF program, provides four user-friendly and adaptable modules to support climate change planning and action implementation, with a focus on the forestry sector. Modules include: basic climate change, social and environmental soundness, low emission land use planning, and carbon measurement and monitoring.
“The AFOLU Carbon Calculator is a set of simple, user-friendly, web-based calculation tools. The Calculator employs Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) based carbon accounting methods that allows users to estimate the absorption and storing of carbon dioxide benefits, and emissions reduction potential of eight different types of land-use and management project activities: forest protection, forest management, afforestation/reforestation, agroforestry, cropland management, grazing land management, forest degradation by fuelwood, and the development of land management policies. Default country data at the subnational level (states, regions, or provinces) that reflects the unique profile of the local ecosystem (e.g. soil types, growth rate, deforestation rate) is built into the Calculator.”
GFW is a dynamic online forest monitoring and alert system that empowers people everywhere to better manage forests. For the first time, GFW unites satellite technology, open data, and crowdsourcing to guarantee access to timely and reliable information about forests. GFW is free and follows an open-data approach to place decision-relevant information in the hands of governments, companies, nongovernment organizations, and the public.
Developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture/Agricultural Research Service, the NI tool measures nitrogen losses to the environment from fertilizer or manure applications at the field or plot level, and supports users in analyzing approaches to maximize productive potential, increase profits, and minimize nitrogen losses to the environment. NI is available in English and in Spanish. A new version of the tool that includes N2O emissions was released in 2015.
In Mexico, through the EC-LEDS program, validation and calibration of the tool for nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions is supporting the country’s goals to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the agriculture sector.
Developed by the University of Wisconsin, N-CyCLES is an analytical decision-making tool that allows users to analyze the economic implications and alternative management options of reducing whole-farm balance of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. It optimizes feeding programs, cropping systems, and manure allocation as a single unit of management within a farm. It can also be used to estimate total GHG emissions from the farm.
In Costa Rica, data are being collected from dairy farms that will be used as inputs for N-CyCLES to identify mitigation options within different dairy management systems.
Taurus, a cattle ration formulation software developed by the University of California at Davis, is used to support analysis of feed rations to maximize profit and minimize GHG emissions per unit of product for various classes of beef cattle.
In Vietnam, the EC-LEDS program is supporting adaptation of the tool to evaluate methane emissions associated with cattle fed on locally available feed rations.
