More and more countries agree that sharing lessons learned, especially on such a complex subject as GHG inventory is crucial for strengthening countries' technical and institutional capacities to progress in reporting to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and follow-up on the commitments of the Paris Agreement.

The "Mesoamerican workshop to exchange knowledge in the reporting and verification of emissions from agriculture" was held in the city of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, from 3 to 7 December 2018. The face-to-face workshop complimented the work plan in South-South Cooperation in Forest Monitoring of the Mesoamerican Environmental Sustainability Strategy (Estrategia mesoamericana de sustentabilidad ambiental, EMSA).

This workshop was part of a capacity-building initiative under the EMSA that combined different interventions to support learning. The initiative launched a virtual learning platform that for 3 months offered a place for online discussion mixed with specialized technical tutorials and webinars. The initiative was supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the UN-REDD Programme in collaboration with the Virtual Center of Excellence in Forest Monitoring (Centro de Excelencia Virtual en Monitoreo Forestal, CEVMF), which facilitated the transmission of all the sessions of workshop to allow participation of other experts online.   After the event, CEVMF will be monitoring the process of the online learning group of participants network created after the workshop. This initiative also has been supported by the Green Development Fund Initiative for the region of the Central American Economic Integration System (SICA)/"REDD + Landscape" Program of the German Agency for International Cooperation (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, GIZ).

During the workshop, targeted participants from Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Panama collectively emphasized that the workshop provided crucial knowledge strengthening activities and exchange of experiences. 

A participant from Mexico mentioned: “The workshop was an enriching opportunity to face common problems and seek collective solutions”.The workshop also sought to establish synergies and existing and necessary links between the agriculture and forestry sectors. Participants recommended that the FAO should replicate the experience in order for other individuals to benefit and follow-up with activities that will consolidate expertise in this subject.

During the workshop, FAO highlighted the importance of developing robust national GHG inventory for the agriculture sector, as inventories are the main instrument for countries to identify and account for their mitigation achievements in the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). The workshop also contributed to the enhancement of technical capacities of the countries to address the requirements of the Transparency Framework under the Paris Agreement, recently adopted at the 24th Conference of the Parties to UNFCCC in Katowice in December 2018.

Useful links:

FAO’s e-learning Centre: The national GHG inventory for agriculture (English, Spanish)

More about The UN-REDD Programme

More about FAO's work on NFMS and GHG Inventories

Press release in Spanish: Países mesoamericanos trabajan colectivamente para mejorar en el reporte sobre cambio climático.

For more information, please contact:

Rocío Cóndor

Measurement, Reporting and Verification Expert,

REDD+/NFM Cluster, Forestry Department, FAO

[email protected]

Lucio Santos

REDD+ LAC Coordinator, REDD+/NFM Cluster

Forestry Department, FAO Subregional Office for Central America

[email protected]

Carla Ramirez

South-South cooperation in forest monitoring advisor, REDD+/NFM Cluster

Forestry Department, FAO Subregional Office for Central America

[email protected]

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