Dhaka - The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Dairy Development Project (LDDP) unit of the Department of Livestock Services (DLS), Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock (MoFL) signed an agreement yesterday to quantify the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) reductions by climate-smart interventions of LDDP. The agreement is signed by Dr Jiaoqun Shi, FAO Representative in Bangladesh and Md Abdur Rahim, the Project Director of the LDDP, DLS.

FAO will provide technical assistance that includes methodology development for GHG emission measurement and GHG inventory measurement for dairy and beef production, manure management system, establishing the livestock GHG clearinghouse under the DLS with monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) system that links to the national MRV system under the Department of Environment (DoE), and methodology for screening of cost-beneficial CSA technologies and practices for dairy and beef systems across the country. FAO will also provide training to enhance the capacity of DLS officials, farmers, and external validators on the implementation of strategy for GHG inventory measurement. FAO will be responsible for preparing and providing a final assessment report of the impact of LDDP interventions on GHG emissions reduction through conducting survey analysis among the LDDP beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries. In addition, FAO technical assistance service will find potential GHG reduction opportunities and climate-finance options for the livestock sector in Bangladesh.

Final output of the signed agreement aims to support the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock in contributing successfully and efficiently to implement the Nationally Determined Contributions towards the Paris Agreement goals through methane mitigation and adaptation measures in the livestock sector.

Dr Jiaoqun Shi, FAO Representative in Bangladesh underlined the resilient and inclusive agro-economic growth in the livestock sector to combat climate change impact and to achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs) by 2030 and said, “Countries should reduce methane emissions, particularly from livestock, by 30 percent to limit global warming by 2030, and FAO is supporting countries in this regard. Through this agreement, we will be once step closer to build a more resilient future for Bangladesh’s livestock sector.”

Md Abdur Rahim, Project Director of the LDDP said “LDDP has been working to achieve the Bangladesh Government's commitment in reducing GHG emissions from the agricultural sectors including the livestock sector by 2030. In this aspect, it is indeed necessary to evaluate the GHG emission reduction through LDDP interventions and find potential measures.”

Background
The LDDP seeks to promote climate-resilient productivity growth, enhance market access, and improve risk management among smallholder farmers and agro-entrepreneurs by providing support for climate-smart production systems, farmer empowerment and commercialization. In addition, one of the focuses of the LDDP is to reduce the GHG emissions from the livestock sector through providing various Climate-Smart-Agriculture (CSA) interventions among its beneficiaries. By this agreement, FAO will quantify the impacts of the LDDP interventions on GHG emissions in the dairy and beef categories of livestock within 61 districts in Bangladesh. The activities under this agreement is aligned with the concerns of the Government of Bangladesh to reduce GHG emissions in line with the Paris Agreement that was adopted by COP21 in 2015.

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