Swift action to cut the greenhouse gas methane from fossil fuel extraction, waste, and livestock and rice production, would quickly reduce the rate of global warming.
Methane gas is second only to carbon dioxide in driving global warming.
Fast and ambitious methane mitigation is one of the best strategies available today to deliver immediate and long-lasting multiple benefits for climate, agriculture, human, and ecosystem health, according to the executive director of UN Environment Programme.
Read the full story at UNEP
More on reducing the carbon footprint of rice production:
Feeding the world while caring for the planet
Rice production is not only a large consumer of water; it also emits a significant amount of greenhouse gases (GHG) into the atmosphere, particularly methane, a more potent GHG than carbon dioxide. IRRI’s new research outcome theme on developing environmentally sustainable solutions for rice systems addresses some of these challenges of improving the productivity and income from rice-based systems while minimizing the environmental footprint.
The research outcome theme is focused on advancing the environmental sustainability of the rice-based system through transformative and multidisciplinary research and approaches. Focusing on the five core domains—air and climate, water, energy, soil health, and biodiversity and pest ecology—this theme uses sustainable rice landscape approaches to develop a futuristic outlook of rice management to achieve social, environmental, and economic sustainability.
Bangladesh network wins award for the dissemination of low-carbon rice production options
The Climate and Clean Air Coalition conferred the Innovation in Behavioural Change award to the Northwest Focal Area Network (FAN) for its effort in reducing methane emissions in rice production. FAN—a network comprising hundreds of farmers, well owners, researchers, and extension agents that focuses on rice-based systems—was recognized for disseminating climate-smart technologies like alternate wetting and drying (AWD) to rice farmers across 8 districts and 17 locations in Rangpur, northern Bangladesh. Over 5,000 farmers have already been reached by the network and a significant number has been testing and practicing the AWD technology, along with other mitigation measures.
Climate change action plans for rice farming: from concepts to implementation
Despite a few setbacks, global climate agreements continue to tread on a positive path with more nations signifying official support for the Paris Agreement. However, although many countries are moving toward the implementation of concrete mitigation programs, there is a clear underrepresentation of the agricultural sector, especially in the rice-growing countries of Asia.
One possible mechanism to reach scale in implementing mitigation technologies is through Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs), one of the agreed outcomes from the Bali Action Plan concluded at the Conference of the Parties 18 in Doha, Qatar, in 2012.
NAMAs refer to any initiatives by developing countries, through government agencies such as agriculture ministries, to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These can be policies directed at transformational change within an economic sector or actions across sectors for a broader national focus, according to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. NAMAs are supported and enabled by technology, financing, and capacity building aimed at reducing emissions relative to projected emissions in 2020 without these policies.
