Zambia’s Ministry of Green Economy and Environment and Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, supported by the Supporting Preparedness for Article 6 Cooperation (SPAR6C) have published two (2) livestock sector reports to provide Zambia with technical and capacity-building support for green house estimation and monitoring and reporting of mitigation actions in the livestock sector.
The Paris Agreement, which Zambia is a party to, established an Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) which requires all Parties to the UNFCCC, to submit their Biennial Transparency Reports (BTR) covering information on national inventory progress towards Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Aligned with this, the waste, cement, energy and livestock sectors have been identified as significant contributors to national emissions.
Currently, livestock greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Zambia are estimated using the Tier 1 methodological approach. This approach uses aggregated livestock population data and default emission factors, without requiring country specific data. In order to improve the accuracy of national emission estimates and therefore reporting in the livestock sector, a transition to the Tier 2 approach, which uses country-specific emission factors and enhanced activity data is necessary. These efforts have also been reiterated in Zambia’s first Biennial Update Report (BUR1) that recommended using a higher tier methodology for reporting.
It is against this backdrop that the SPAR6C Program supported the Ministry of Green Economy and Environment (MGEE) to commission two livestock sector studies. The two studies focused on the assessment of emission factors for different manure systems for cattle, and the assessment of heads, sex and age of different cattle categories, respectively.
The report: The Assessment of Emission Factors for Different Manure Systems for Cattle will support the development of carbon projects within the livestock sector through; the development of harmonized templates and procedures for the collection of manure management data; determining existing manure management systems (MMS) in different agro-ecological zones and farming systems in Zambia; characterizing manure for chemical composition and related parameters under different MMS for cattle and capacitate stakeholders on the methods and tools available for estimating and reporting climate mitigation potentials of livestock manure in Zambia.
The report: The Assessment of Heads, Sex and Age of different Cattle Categories characterizes cattle and their productivity status in Zambia, in order to apply Tier 2 methodologies of estimating methane (CH4) emissions from enteric fermentation using disaggregated cattle population, country specific parameters, and emission factors. This was conducted through; reviewing harmonized templates and procedures for the collection of cattle population by relevant categories; reviewing results of survey to assess herd structure, feed basket and productivity in different cattle categories and production systems; reviewing upgraded enteric fermentation methodological approach for cattle using enhanced livestock characteristics and will further capacitate stakeholders on the methods and tools of estimating and reporting mitigation potentials of feed improvements, related to climate actions in Zambia.
Overall, these reports will allow for enhance accuracy in livestock mitigation efforts in the national GHG inventory, thereby contributing to enhanced accounting of GHG emission reduction in livestock related carbon projects.
P.O BOX 30147
Lusaka, Zambia
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