www.fao.org/climatechange/micca The presentation was given by Uwe Grewer as part of a webinar on climate-smart agriculture in the field held in October 2015. It gives examples from past and present experiences with the FAO EX-Ante Carbon balance Tool. The presentation starts with an introduction on climate change mitigation in the AFOLU sector. It looks at the FAO EX-ACT tool for mitigation assessments, practical experiences from EX-ACT assessments, the integration of mitigation within project design and assessing GHG impacts with EX-ACT in low-data environments. © FAO: http://www.fao.org

1. Assessing Climate Change Mitigation
Benefits to Support CSA Programming
UWE GREWER (FAO) - LOUIS BOCKEL (FAO) - MARTIAL BERNOUX (IRD) -
WWW.FAO.ORG/TC/EXACT
Examples from past and present experiences
with the FAO EX-Ante Carbon balance Tool

2. The EX-Ante Carbon balance Tool
www.fao.org/tc/exact
Climate Change is affecting agriculture, but
also…
AFOLU is...
• ... the second largest contributor to GHG emissions
• With Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) contributing
about 24% of global emissions in 2010 (IPCC, 5th AR)
• With Agriculture as opposed to Forestry & Land Use contributing
roughly equal shares of 12%
• Lower income countries mainly contributing emissions through their
AFOLU sectors
Agriculture and
climate change

3. The EX-Ante Carbon balance Tool
www.fao.org/tc/exact
• In the past: Limited interest in quantifying mitigation
benefits of AFOLU sector development programmes
• Structural and consequent mitigation assessments as
most common in the forestry sector (e.g. REDD+)
• More recently: mitigation impacts as increasingly
relevant indicator for funding agencies and
governments
o GEF-6 Climate change tracking tool
o Increased voluntary assessments by bi-and multilateral funds as well
as NGOs
o INDC process by governments
Current practices of considering
mitigation impacts in AFOLU

4. The EX-Ante Carbon balance Tool
www.fao.org/tc/exact
• High technical complexity:
o Wide range of emission processes concerning N2O, CH4
and CO2
o High level of context specificity
o High level of uncertainty of estimates
o Some mitigation benefits are potentially reversible
o High cost implications of MRV systems, and specifically
field measurements
Technical aspects of climate change
mitigation assessments in AFOLU

5. The EX-Ante Carbon balance Tool
www.fao.org/tc/exact
• An Excel based tool
• Quantifying the amount of
GHG released or
sequestered from activities
in the AFOLU sectors
• Assisting to identify
practices with beneficial
mitigation impacts
• Can be used by non-
specialists and requiring low
data inputs
What is EX-ACT
Available in 7 languages

6. The EX-Ante Carbon balance Tool
www.fao.org/tc/exact
• Quantification of the expected development of
practice and activities in the AFOLU sector for two
scenarios:
o A “business-as-usual” scenario -> in absence of any intervention
o A “policy/project scenario” -> strengthening targeted & sustainable
development
• Examples of main practices and activities:
o afforestation, improved cropland management, grassland
rehabilitation, livestock management practices, quantities of
agricultural inputs and fuels
• No GHG measurements or emission factors are
required – though both can be used when available
Data for carbon balance analyses

7. The EX-Ante Carbon balance Tool
www.fao.org/tc/exact
Specify priority actions for project
monitoring
Main uses of EX-ACT
Quantify overall project GHG impact
Identify main emission and mitigation sources
Elaborate options for strengthening mitigation
benefits in synergy with other CSA objectives

8. The EX-Ante Carbon balance Tool
www.fao.org/tc/exact
Case Study:
EX-Ante GHG Assessment
of the IFAD Family Farming Development
Programme in Niger
• Project interventions:
o Focusing on food security, nutrition and resilience of
290,000 households
o Main objectives:
• Reinforcement of sustainable family farming
systems
• Improved market access for smallholder farmers
Strengthening Project Design
with EX-ACT

9. The EX-Ante Carbon balance Tool
www.fao.org/tc/exact
Ex-ante project targets with
GHG impacts
Assisted Natural Regeneration on agricultural land
190,000 ha
Cropland Rehabilitation using Shallow Pits (“Demis Lunes”)
13,586 ha
Improved Cropland Management
19,000 ha impacted through Farmer Field Schools
10,130 ha adopting flood recession cropping
Pasture Rehabilitation
2,500 ha
Living Hedges
400 ha

10. The EX-Ante Carbon balance Tool
www.fao.org/tc/exact
Ex-Ante estimated GHG impacts
0
1000000
2000000
3000000
4000000
5000000
6000000
Total GHG benefits
(tCO2-eq)
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
4.0
4.5
1.5
1.9
1.2
0.4
0.9
4.5
Annual GHG benefits per ha
(t CO2-eq/ha  yr)
Total GHG benefits
(tCO2-eq)
Assisted Natural
Regeneration (ANR)
5523966
190,000ha
Demis Lunes 508116
13,586ha
Farmer Field Schools 468160
19,000ha
Flood recession cropping 89144
10,130ha
Pasture Rehabilitation 45467
2,500ha
Living Hedges 35761
400ha
Total GHG benefits 6670614

11. The EX-Ante Carbon balance Tool
www.fao.org/tc/exact
Priority actions for project monitoring:
• Actually realized scale of ANR & Demis Lunes
• Actually realized tree density
• Refined analysis on soil carbon dynamics and
permanence using field soil data
EX-ACT Appraisal Results
PRODAF carbon balance:
• Total mitigation benefits of 6.7 million t CO2-e over 20
years
Biggest mitigation sources:
• Impact strength (per ha): living hedges
• Total mitigation benefits: 1st: ANR; 2nd: Demis Lunes
First options for strengthening mitigation benefits:
• Economic availability of tree seedlings (adoption barrier)
• Addressing rural energy scarcity (firewood demand)
• Making sustainable mgmt. permanent (land tenure?)

12. EX-ACT TEAM:
UWE GREWER (FAO): uwe.grewer@fao.org
LOUIS BOCKEL (FAO): louis.bockel@fao.org
MARTIAL BERNOUX (IRD): martial.bernoux@ird.org
WB FOCAL POINT: ADEMOLA BRAIMOH
WEBSITE: WWW.FAO.ORG/TC/EXACT
EMAIL: EX-ACT@FAO.ORG
THANK YOU !