Using the CCAFS Mitigation Options Tool to identify mitigation co-benefits in Ethiopia’s land use sector

Abstract

CCAFS, the University of Aberdeen, USDA, ILRI and EIAR invited a wide range of stakeholders interested in climate change adaptation and mitigation to field activities and a worshop that would apply CCAFS-MOT to the Ethiopian context. These activities included field work for data collection and a three-day workshop; the workshop was composed of one day to train the trainers, one day to train technicians, and a one-day seminar for policy makers and policy advisors. The workshop took place at the ILRI (International Livestock Research Institute) campus in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on the 23rd, 26-27th March 2018. Participants included representatives from Ethiopian ministries, universities, research institutes, NGOs, students. Please find the invitation letter in Appendix 1, the full participant list in Appendix 2 and the workshop agenda in Appendix 3.

The aims of the training of technicians and the seminar for policy makers and policy advisors were to introduce the CCAFS-MOT and to understand its capacity to support users to estimate GHG emissions from land management practices, identify sources of GHG emissions in the land use sector (agriculture, forest, grassland), understand the influence of land management practices on GHG emissions, identify mitigation options and their co-benefits and barriers for its implementation, and identify gaps for further analysis and tool refinement.

Participants collected field data in two sub-catchments of Tula catchment in the Lemi district, Ethiopia, used the CCAFS-MOT with local data on climate, soil characteristics and land management practices, estimated GHG emissions from land management activities and ranked the most effective practices that reduce emissions to build resilience in agriculture. Undertaking such analyses can be a specialised and time-consuming task, but the CCAFSMOT was designed to offer users a shortcut. In Ethiopia, the CCAFS-MOT can serve experts in their efforts to develop policies and implementation actions to achieve Ethiopia’s National Determined Contribution (NDC) targets.