A new project on climate change mitigation and agricultural projects in Latin America and the Caribbean has been launched, which will bring together a consortium of research institutions and funders.

The Government of New Zealand, the Inter-American Development Bank and the Regional Fund for Agricultural Technology (Fontagro, for its initials in Spanish) have signed an agreement to work together for the first time on a project to improve national greenhouse gas inventories and develop mitigation options in LAC. The research will be adapted to the farming conditions of each of the target countries: Argentina, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay.

In Uruguay, Argentina and Colombia, agriculture is the main contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, representing 76%, 44% and 45% of total emissions respectively. One of the major issues is beef cattle production, which is both an important source of income to the local economies, and a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.

The project will involve a group of national research institutions and universities in Latin America, with overall coordination by the National Institute of Industry and Agriculture of Uruguay (INIA). New Zealand’s Agriculture Greenhouse Gas Research Centre (NZAGRC) will also participate and provide technical support.

This new agreement is part of the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases, a global initiative led by New Zealand to bring countries together to find ways to grow more food without growing greenhouse emissions.

New Zealand Minister of Agriculture, David Carter, said,

The project has been specifically designed to address the needs of participating countries in a coordinated and efficient manner and it is exactly the sort of initiative that New Zealand wants to see emerging from the Global Research Alliance.