Building capacity in Bangladesh to measure and report greenhouse gas emissions from livestock

In recent years, the government of Bangladesh has intensified its focus on the livestock sector, recognizing its significant role in improving rural livelihoods and contributing to the economic growth of the country. The sector contributes to food security and nutrition by providing animal-sourced food and diversifying diets from predominantly rice-based ones. It is also widening investment opportunities, income streams for households, profits for firms, and employment prospects for both rural and urban communities. With increased production and productivity, the sector has helped reduce Bangladesh’s previous high expenditures on importing animal-source products.

FAO’s support in Bangladesh

FAO has been providing technical support to the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock through the Department of Livestock Services and the Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute. This support aims to transform the livestock sector by improving productivity, market access, and resilience to various risks, including those related to climate change, zoonotic diseases, food safety, and economic shocks. For instance, FAO has supported Bangladesh in implementing the USD 500 million Livestock and Dairy Development project funded by the World Bank. Furthermore, FAO has facilitated the establishment of baselines for key livestock commodities of common interest across dairy, beef, small ruminants, and poultry value chains.

FAO has mobilized smallholder livestock producers for farm investments in various livestock value chains. It was followed by the development of curriculum and training materials on livestock farmer field schools. Recognizing the role of policy reforms in transforming the livestock sector, FAO is supporting the government in formulating policies related to livestock extension, animal breeding, artificial insemination, poultry hatcheries, foot-and-mouth diseases, and peste des petits ruminants control strategies.

The Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock has also requested FAO to support the country in implementing sustainable methane management practices in the livestock sector. In response, the FAO under the Flexible Voluntary Contributions (FVC) subprogramme on “Scaling up climate actions to enhance nationally determined contributions (NDC), climate, and livestock” is supporting the Government of Bangladesh to establish a National Methane Framework. This framework aims to coordinate institutional arrangements, mobilize methane pledges from domestic and international funding sources, establish a methane innovation hub and a knowledge management platform, and upscale the most promising methane reduction technologies among smallholder farmers across the country.

Background

Bangladesh has prepared and submitted its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) for 2021 to 2025 to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in line with the Paris Agreement. The NDC commitments aim to enhance climate resilience, unlock climate finance and contribute to sustainable development goals by 2030. Bangladesh has pledged to reduce 1.04 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions from the agriculture sector, including crop and livestock systems. Livestock climate actions will involve improving breeds, feed solutions, and manure management systems. The government estimates that the implementation of these actions will require USD 470 million up to 2030. However, the country currently lacks a robust greenhouse gas inventory methodology capable of establishing emission baselines from the livestock sector. In response, FAO is collaborating with the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock to develop a robust methodology that focuses on estimating greenhouse gas emissions from all sources and activities across the livestock life cycle and along different livestock value chains.

About the training

FAO has organized a national hands-on training of trainers on greenhouse gas emissions inventory and livestock climate actions. The training was held in Dhaka, Bangladesh from 01 to 2 November 2023. The event brought together multiple stakeholders from government, national research institutions, universities, non-government organizations, the private sector, and international resource partners. The goal was to equip them with the skills for assessing greenhouse gas emissions from livestock activities across the country. This initiative marked the beginning of the process of establishing a Country Team with expertise in the FAO Global Livestock Environment Assessment Model, preparing for country-wide support in greenhouse gas emissions inventory for livestock systems. The training was organized in collaboration with the Department of Livestock Services, the Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute, the Department of Livestock Services, the Department of Environment, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, as well as the Project Management Unit of the Livestock and Dairy Development Project funded by the World Bank.