GIC-LAC Project: Strengthening national mitigation objectives and opening a path to reduce emissions in agrifood systems in Latin America and the Caribbean (2024-2026).

Background

Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) face severe climate risks to agriculture and food systems, including increasing temperatures, prolonged droughts, extreme rainfall, and land degradation. These risks threaten crop yields, livestock productivity, soil fertility, and forest ecosystems, thereby exacerbating food insecurity and biodiversity loss. The Agriculture and LULUCF (Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use) sector is a major source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the region, while also holding high potential for mitigation through improved land management and climate-smart practices.

Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), and National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) in many LAC countries identify agriculture, forests, and land use as priority sectors for both mitigation and adaptation. However, a persistent gap exists national inventories and reporting systems often rely on Tier 1 methodologies with limited country-specific data, constraining the ability of governments to design evidence-based policies and track progress against commitments.

The implementation of the GIC-LAC project directly contributes to the achievement of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) by strengthening the technical and operational foundation upon which countries quantify and report their emissions in the agriculture and land use sectors. Through the adoption of higher-tier methodologies (Tier 2), the improvement of MRV systems, and the consolidation of national capacities, the project enables greater accuracy, transparency, and consistency in national GHG inventories. This is essential for monitoring progress and adjusting climate actions in line with the targets established in the NDCs and the Enhanced Transparency Framework of the Paris Agreement.

This enables more robust reporting under the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) of the Paris Agreement, directly linking national actions in agriculture and food systems to global climate commitments.

Activities

The project is led by the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT and funded through the New Zealand Government's Climate-Smart Agriculture Initiative, as part of its contribution to the Global Research Alliance on Greenhouse Gases in Agriculture (GRA)  and CGIAR Climate Action Program and Scaling for Impact Program. It focuses on six Latin American countries, with national reporting gaps in the Agriculture and LULUCF sectors identified ex post through a needs assessment.

Key activities include:

• Capacity building and technical training: Workshops and e-learning tools to strengthen the ability of national experts to move from Tier 1 to Tier 2 reporting in Agriculture and LULUCF sectors.
• Development of data systems: Support for compiling, structuring, and standardizing national databases on land use, crops, and livestock.
• Technical assistance: Guidance on identifying emission sources, selecting country-specific emission factors, and applying IPCC methodologies (2006 Guidelines and 2019 Refinement).
• Regional knowledge exchange: Facilitating collaboration among participating countries to share experiences and harmonize approaches. Targeted food system components include crops, livestock, and land use (particularly forestry and soils), with co-benefits for nutrition and resilience by informing more sustainable land and resource management decisions.

Impact

The GIC-LAC project directly supports NDC implementation by:

• Advancing mitigation targets through improving estimates of emissions and removals from agriculture and the LULUCF sector, enabling more accurate accounting of progress.
• Strengthening institutional capacity via training, systematization of data flows, and development of country-specific emission factors.
• Enhancing policy integration by ensuring national climate strategies are supported by reliable, transparent evidence, increasing alignment between agriculture, forestry, and biodiversity policies.
• Regional cooperation that reinforces collective capacity to deliver on global climate and biodiversity goals.