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Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Co-Benefits across the Global Agricultural Development Programs

Bardot Cassidy

The goal of global agricultural development initiatives is to support smallholder farmers and farming communities by building resilient and sustainable food production systems, which can also have the added benefit of promoting the mitigation of climate change (GHG). In this report, the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD), the USAID-Feed the Future (FTF) Initiative, and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office estimate GHG emissions reductions from almost 100 agricultural development projects across 51 low- and middle-income countries (FCDO, previously DfID). These initiatives supported a net annual reduction in GHG emissions of 6.5 MtCO2e. The project areas’ enhanced agroforestry practises and forest management programmes made the largest contributions to the investment portfolios’ overall mitigation cobenefits (3.9 MtCO2e/y). The reduction in GHG emissions (1.5 MtCO2e/y) was also significantly aided by improved crop management using minimum tillage techniques, residue integration, water management in paddy rice, and the use of organic fertilisers. The chosen projects’ management of grass and grazing lands results in a 0.2 MtCO2e/y net reduction in emissions.