Co-creating a Soil Organic Carbon community of practice for Africa

Healthy and fertile soils are crucial for agricultural productivity, which is the backbone of Africa’s economy. Healthy soils may also be the climate solution beneath our feet. Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) refers to the soil organic content of soils. SOC plays an important role in soil fertility, water retention and the ability of soils to absorb greenhouse gases (GHG). However, land-use change and land degradation within Africa is severely impacting the organic content of soils, leading to less productive soils and lands and the limited ability of soils to absorb and retain GHG. In order to harness the potential for SOC to promote development and support climate action, the Africa LEDS Partnership is facilitating the creation of a new Community of Practice (CoP) for SOC in Africa.

The global landscape for SOC ambitions

Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) outline mitigation and adaptation targets and form the basis for countries’ climate action ambitions. Since the second round of submission of NDCs before the COP26 negotiations, it is clear that there is a growing ambition for countries to focus on mitigation targets and adaptation-mitigation co-benefits through SOC commitments. Outside of SOC there are also a number of countries reporting activities in their NDCs that also contribute to improving SOC (e.g. Agroforestry or wetland protection).

However, despite the growing inclusion of SOC in NDCs there are still various barriers to including SOC targets. Particularly with regards to the availability of accurate data to link practice to SOC stocks which creates challenges for monitoring, reporting and validation (MRV). National level priorities also tend to focus on agricultural production and food security rather than SOC and sequestration. In order for practices to effectively improve SOC, they need to be practical for farmers and incentivized.

Despite these challenges, NDCs can provide a springboard to drive SOC-related projects within countries when aligned with national agricultural policy. Another opportunity is to align NDCs with Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) targets. SOC is one of the key metrics to measure targets for LDN, so many countries who set these targets have some set targets for increasing SOC. Therefore, aligning NDCs and LDC targets and supporting these ambitions through actions which feed into both these targets provides a great opportunity to support SOC.

Reflecting on the country perspective – Cameroon

Cameroon’s economy is dependent on Agriculture, however despite over 70% of the economy reliant on agriculture very little attention has been placed on SOC. Christian Teghe from the University of Bamenda has been working to improve the data availability of SOC in Cameroon, providing estimates for SOC in Cameroon from which to base increasing ambitions.

Teghe’s work includes studies of soil and water protection, where he has worked with women farmers to explore the benefits of conservation tillage and cover cropping in reducing soil erosion and improve SOC.

Teghe’s work has also examined how different land-use types affect SOC, showing a decline as land-use shifts from forestry to monocropping. This has allowed further research using satellite imagery to examine how SOC stock has changed in Cameroon, as well as research to examine what practices support improvements in SOC stock. Working with extension officers and smallholder farmers to improve awareness of the benefits of SOC and training them on techniques to boost yields and SOC such as Push-pull technology, Teghe’s work has been able to demonstrate on the ground solutions while providing valuable knowledge to upscale improvements in SOC conservation in Cameroon.

Shaping the SOC-COP

Between October and December 2021, the AfLP (with support from the LEDS GP and UNIQUE) convened a core group of experts and interested stakeholders to co-explore raising ambitions of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) through a SOC-CoP. Over three workshops, participants co-created the purpose, scope and mission statement for the SOC CoP.

The SOC-CoP has been designed to address various purposes such as networking, knowledge creation and sharing and providing policy and technical support. These activities are intended to serve the greater objective or goal of facilitating action on the ground. To do this, the CoP aims to support evidence-based implementation through closing the gap between policy and regulation on the national level and best practice on the farm level.

In order to achieve this, an important objective of the CoP would be to increase awareness for the value of SOC. Through sharing knowledge and lessons on effective management practices, monitoring, reporting and validation and co-benefits (both mitigation- adaptation co-benefits as well as socio-economic co-benefits) the CoP aims to create key feedback loops. These feedback loops will ensure that examples of best practice and implementation on the farm level inform national level planning, policy and reporting which in turn leads to government providing relevant support to farmers. 

The SOC-CoP is open to membership from a range of different stakeholders with a particular emphasis on the important role that practitioners on the ground (e.g. extension service officers, farmers) play. Through a small core group of experts providing strategic guidance, and a wider group of members participating in peer learning the SOC-CoP aims to build a large network of expertise focused on SOC in Africa.

Join our SOC-COP

The AfLP is seeking to grow our membership of the SOC-CoP for Africa. If you are an expert, practitioner or policy-maker working on this issue within Africa and would like to be kept in the loop, send us an email [africasecretariat@ledsgp.org] or join the group on the Green Forum to join exciting discussions and get to know everyone else. Sign up to the Green Forum here.

PRESS RELEASE

Africa LEDS Partnership Members Reaffirm Shared Ambition Towards Low-Emission Energy and Agriculture Systems in Africa

April 21, 2021 (ONLINE)

In association with the Leaders Summit on Climate Change hosted by President Biden (April 22-23), the Africa LEDS Partnership today reaffirmed the shared ambition of its African members to accelerate transitions to net zero emission and resilient agricultural and energy systems across Africa. This builds on the current Africa LEDS Partnership communities of practice on low emission agriculture and energy systems which engage officials and experts from 17 African countries. This expanded effort will work with country participants to develop shared goals and tailored national pathways that that prioritize climate actions that have multiple benefits for both the economy and people’s lives and livelihoods and support inclusive economic recovery and green growth. And it will mobilize technical and peer-based support for countries to plan and implement ambitious actions aligned with these pathways.

“I strongly support the work of the Africa LEDS Partnership in achieving equitable and net-zero emission energy and agriculture systems that can support inclusive economic recovery and green growth. This will have positive impacts on vulnerable societies in sub-Saharan Africa, where COVID-19 has had especially adverse effects on energy access and food security, which were existing problems before the pandemic.” (John Yeboah, Ghana Energy Commission and senior AfLP representative)

With support from the governments of the United States and Germany, the LEDS Global Partnership (LEDS GP) and Africa LEDS Partnership (AfLP) will deliver technical assistance for the activities of this coalition. This includes expanding support for development of shared visions and national implementation pathways and NDC planning, technical assistance for implementation of actions and workforce development, knowledge exchange on innovative solutions, and mobilization of investment.

As the regional nexus for LEDS GP in Africa, the AfLP brings together representatives from governments, civil society and the private sector working to advance low emission development strategies across the continent and works to address LEDS priorities and challenges specific to Africa through peer-to-peer learning and regional collaboration. This work is implemented through focused communities of practice on energy and agriculture systems, which provide technical collaboration platforms for practitioners from over 17 countries in Africa.

The LEDS GP is a global accelerator of knowledge and solutions that lead the way to climate resilient and low-carbon development. It is a platform driven by climate leaders in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean that enables collaborative and ambitious climate action, peer learning and innovation. The LEDS GP fosters country leadership and regional communities that enable the transformational changes needed for low-carbon and climate-resilient development.

For more information, please contact the AfLP Secretariat at: africasecretariat@ledsgp.org.

Virtual preparatory training for Tier 2 livestock GHG quantification in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe’s livestock sector contributes significantly to its socio-economic development through providing employment to 65% of rural (smallholder) livelihoods and contributing up to 20% of GDP. Zimbabwe is currently producing its Fourth National Inventory Report and its first Biannual Update Report (BUR) using a Tier 1 method. There are ongoing collaborative relationships between the agriculture and environment ministries and data providers in the livestock sector on the harmonization of data collection and reporting tools. This provides a strong basis for preparing to transition from a Tier 1 to a Tier 2 inventory method. The Tier 2 method is a more elaborate method that enables farm-level assessment of mitigation potential. 

The AfLP responded to requests from the Zimbabwe Climate Change Management Department (CCMD) for technical assistance (TA) to complement the ongoing and future planned support by other partners. In collaboration with stakeholders, the AfLP and LEDS GP Climate Help Desk assisted by hosting a three-day webinar series and training, from the 30^th of November to the 2^nd of December, to better understand the requirements for a transition from a Tier 1 to a Tier 2 method. The objective of the technical assistance was to strengthen the capacity of stakeholders from the livestock sector to better understand how to implement the IPCC Guidelines for quantification of livestock GHG emissions using the Tier 2 method in order to strengthen the national MRV system. In addition, the TA aimed to identify the data needs and gaps, and to co-create a list of key actions that could form the basis for a roadmap to progressing to Tier 2. The sessions were convened by Mr Lawrence Mashungu (CCMD) and facilitated by Dr Walter Svinurai (Marondera University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology) and Prof. Farai Mapanda (University of Zimbabwe), with technical inputs by Andreas Wilkes (UNIQUE forestry and land use).

The technical discussions were orientated around how to implement the IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (the livestock-specific guidance can be found here). In addition, The FAO, the GRA and CCAFS have produced specific guidance on how to compile activity data required to implement the Tier 2 method for livestock, and can be found here. The IPCC method for more advanced quantification of livestock emissions appears complicated, and the workshop broke down the main data needs and tasks into easy-to-understand and manageable components, so that all stakeholders – including those without in-depth knowledge on GHG emissions – could clearly see what needs to be done to compile an improved inventory.

The first day focused on an introduction to the IPCC Tier 2 method and its requirement, as well as Zimbabwe’s progress to date and institutional arrangements. Participants noted that the application of the Tier 2 method could result in more consistent, comparable and robust estimates of livestock GHG emissions. There was strong agreement that the Tier 2 method provides a valuable opportunity to improve basic livestock data, leading to effective mitigation policies being identified. It was further emphasised that it is important for national stakeholders to be clear on what the intended benefits are for Zimbabwe’s livestock sector (e.g. leveraging investments, GHG mitigation co-benefits of adaptation etc). This event was subsequently noted as an important step in the transition process.

The second and third day focussed on group discussions on livestock population data needs and options for tier 2 GHG quantification. The Tier 2 method requires only total population data for dairy cattle and other cattle, subsequently using data on cattle sub-populations. In Zimbabwe’s inventory, non-dairy cattle are the main source of GHG emissions. Although IPCC Guidelines make recommendations for livestock characterization countries have different ways of defining dairy and non-dairy cattle. 

Group discussions took place about the categorization suitable for Zimbabwe and possible data sources and data gaps. A major challenge is that when the Tier 2 method is adopted, it must be applied to the whole time series for cattle enteric fermentation emissions back to the initial year of the inventory (i.e., 1990 in the case of Zimbabwe). Despite this challenge, there are methods to fill gaps if some data is not available (eg. proxy indicators, data from neighbouring countries, expert judgement, amongst others). The key point emerging from these discussions is that it is important that all agencies involved understand each other’s’ methodologies, and that there is a common understanding and awareness of the benefits of collaborating moving forward. 

The event culminated in a number of feasible actions that stakeholders can take in the short-term to prepare the Tier 2 inventory compilation process. Notable actions include clarifying the institutional arrangements for coordination amongst stakeholders, developing a join step-by-step action plan, and mobilising the resources to implement the action plan. Stakeholders in Zimbabwe have already begun to plan follow-up actions, some of which can be implemented in the framework of ongoing MRV capacity building projects supported by UNDP and UN FAO. Proposals for the additional support required will be drafted and communicated with other international partners supporting low-emission livestock development. 

Download the workshop report and presentations here