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With the shared goal of supporting countries to deliver on climate change mitigation in agriculture, the CGIAR Research Prorgam on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) Low Emissions Development Flagship and the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA) are collaborating to provide grants to support young scientists from developing countries to conduct applied research on measurement and management of greenhouse gas emissions and carbon storage in agricultural systems.

CCAFS and the GRA publicly announced the grant recipients of the first Climate, Food and Farming - Global Research Alliance Development Scholarships (CLIFF-GRADS) call at the 2018 Bonn Climate Change Conference (SBSTA48) on 7th May. Nine winners from six countries, chosen from 65 applicants representing 23 countries, are already planning their scientific visits at host institutions with research supervisors.

The 2018 CLIFF-GRADS recipients

• María De Bernardi, a student at the National University of the Center of the Buenos Aires Province in Argentina, will be collaborating with scientists at INIA in Chile to identify and study soils with methanotrophy process.
• Ofonime Eyo, a student at the Institute of Life and Earth Sciences at the Pan African University (University of Ibadan) in Nigeria will be conducting her research through CIMMYT, with a focus on quantifying greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture in Bangladesh.
• Florencia Garcia, a student at the National University of Córdoba in Argentina, will also conduct her scientific research with INIA in Chile, where she will study the use of essential oils to alter microbial activity in the rumen with the aim of reducing enteric methane production.
• Abubakar Halilu Girei, a student at Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria, will do his short-term research at CIAT, focusing on soil quality and greenhouse gas emissions under selected systems of rice intensification (SRI) practices in Kadawa, Sudan savanna agroecological zone of Nigeria.
• Ridha Ibidhi is with the Mediterranean Institute for Agricultural Economics of Zaragoza in Tunisia and will be coordinating with Bangor University to study nutrition strategies, manipulation and management for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the production of dairy and beef cattle.
• Banira Lombardi, with the National University of the Center of the Buenos Aires Province in Argentina, will have scientific training at CIAT with a focus on quantification of greenhouse gases from livestock effluents in typical Argentine production systems.
• Isabel Cristina Molina Botero, who is with the Universidad Autonoma de Yucatan in Mexico, will be doing research at CIAT on productivity, reduced methane emissions and reduced dependency on external inputs on tropical livestock farms.
• Yohannes Gelan Regassa, a student at Bahir Dar University in Ethiopia, will be collaborating with Wageningen University and Research to examine the effects of textile bio-solid and phosphorus applications on yield and yield components of maize (Zea mays L.) in Kombolcha, Ethiopia.
• Sebastián Vangeli, who is with the National Institute of Agricultural Technology in Argentina, will coordinate with Bangor University to study the impact of agricultural management on nitrous oxide emissions and mitigation potential.

The next CLIFF-GRADS call is expected in late 2018, to be awarded in early 2019. Visit the CLIFF-GRADS project page, which includes publications by CLIFF students.

CCAFS-GRA collaboration

CCAFS and the GRA have recently collaborated to share status and options in measurement, reporting and verification of greenhouse gas emissions, particularly from livestock. See these outputs for more information:

• Brochure: Benefits of advanced inventories: Using an IPCC Tier 2 approach to estimate emissions can better reflect mitigation due to changes in livestock productivity and efficiency.
• Report: Measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) of livestock greenhouse gas emissions by developing countries in the UNFCCC: Current practices and opportunities for improvement systems. Available soon in French and Spanish.
• Event: Side event at the Bonn Climate Change Conference on May 8, 2018: Improving transparency: Linking MRV and finance for livestock NAMAs to meet the NDCs.
• Conference: Germany, as the incoming chair of the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA), is organizing the International conference on agricultural GHG emissions and food security - Connecting research to policy and practice with the participation of CCAFS. The conference will take place September 10-13, 2018 in Berlin.