Now, Arun Khatri-Chhetri, from CGIAR, and colleagues have gathered data from projects spanning 51 countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe to estimate their impact on GHG emissions. These included 59 smallholder adaptation projects supported by the International Fund for Agriculture Development, 26 smallholder agricultural projects of Feed the Future Initiative, other programmes funded by the US Agency for International Development, and 7 commercial agricultural development programmes supported by the UK’s former Department for International Development (later renamed ‘Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’). The authors applied carbon sequestration rates and the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Ex-Ante Carbon Balance Tool — a land-based GHG emission accounting system that estimates carbon stock changes and GHG emissions under various conditions.
The analysis revealed that, together, these projects have led to a net GHG emissions reduction of 6.5 MtCO2e per year. Over the course of 20 years, GHG reduction co-benefits (due to an increase in biomass carbon sequestration) amounted to approximately 60 MtCO2e. Forest management and promotion of improved agroforestry systems had the greatest contribution to the total mitigation co-benefits of the investment portfolios (approximately 3.9 MtCO2e per year). Improved crop management with minimum tillage practices, residue incorporation, water management in paddy rice, and the use of organic fertilizers decreased annual GHG emissions by approximately 1.5 MtCO2e. Grass and pasture land management across the selected projects account for a net emission reduction of 0.2 MtCO2e per year. Despite the need for more refined estimates given that GHG reduction levels may vary depending where and when an intervention is implemented, these results can already guide low emission development efforts.
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