TREES4CLIMA · Enabling carbon accounting of trees on farms for agroforestry-based climate action
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2021-09-01 → 2025-07-18
- EU contribution
- €286,922
- Participants
- 2
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Enabling carbon accounting of trees on farms for agroforestry-based climate action
Agroforestry systems integrate trees, crops and livestock on farms, providing adaptation and mitigation to climate change and livelihood opportunities. Despite its benefits, agroforestry is often not accounted for in measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) systems, which are a requirement for fulfilling countries’ climate goals under the Paris Agreement. Furthermore, new regulations such as EUDR may have collateral damage in agroforestry systems due to its resemblance to forests. If agroforestry is not included, incentives for leveraging on-farm trees for addressing climate change will be limited. TREES4CLIMA addressed three shortcomings in scientific research that prevent the adoption of agroforestry: 1) Lack of accessible approaches for the representation of agroforestry in MRV systems; 2) Shortfall of data and tailored methods for carbon accounting in agroforestry systems; 3) Institutional barriers that withhold agroforestry from access to MRV and climate finance. The overall research objective was to develop and test robust, cost-effective approaches to account for carbon in agroforestry systems and enable innovative environments for climate finance, and the creation of practical pathways to integrate agroforestry into MRV and regulatory frameworks that unlock incentives. The project has achieved its objectives and milestones for the period, including A) the classification and representation of agroforestry systems by accessible remote sensing and deep learning; B) advancing methods for rapid quantification of carbon in biomass on farms using novel computer vision and field images; C) quantification of soil carbon across land uses; and D) applying innovative solutions to link individual trees and climate mechanisms. TREES4CLIMA demonstrates that credible, scalable representation for agroforestry is feasible with accessible tools, reduces the cost of carbon accounting, and clarifies pathways for climate finance.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Agriculture is a major driver of deforestation and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Meeting the increasing demand for land and agricultural products, without compromising the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda, will require a sustainable transformation of agricultural systems. Among the solutions, agroforestry systems which integrate trees, crops and livestock on farms, without requiring additional agricultural land, provide adaptation and mitigation to climate change and improve livelihoods. Despite its benefits, agroforestry is often not accounted for in measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) systems, which are a requirement for fulfilling countries’ climate goals under the Paris Agreement. If agroforestry is not included, incentives for leveraging on-farm trees for addressing climate change will be limited. Three scientific and technical gaps prevent the access of agroforestry to climate-finance: 1) Lack of accessible approaches for the representation of agroforestry in MRV systems; 2) Shortfall of data and tailored methods for carbon accounting in agroforestry systems; 3) Institutional barriers that withhold agroforestry from access to MRV and climate finance. The aim of this project is to develop and field-test robust, cost-effective approaches to account for carbon in agroforestry systems and enable innovative environments for climate finance. Three working packages (WP) will contribute to fill the existing gaps: WP1) Accessible detection, classification and representation of agroforestry systems; WP2) Development of methods for rapid, non-destructive quantification of carbon in agroforestry; WP3) Enablement of novel environments for agroforestry-based climate finance. The project outcomes will provide not only accessible tools and robust methods to facilitate carbon accounting in agroforestry, but also a link to climate finance. This combination will generate a multidisciplinary approach to catalyze agroforestry-based climate action.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET · KOBENHAVNCoordinatorDenmark
- THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA · OaklandUnited States
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union