Year of publication 2011

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Pages 17 p.

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Author Bockel, L. ;Phiri,D. ;Tinlot, M.

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Publisher FAO ;

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Product type Document

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ISBN 978-92-5-106779-6

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Series title EASYPol: Resources for policy making

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Edition 1

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Synopsis (short abstract) While agriculture contributes significantly to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which need mitigating, it also provides opportunities for significant carbon storage, for example, in tree crops and in soils. In fact, the global sequestration potential through increasing organic soil carbon via improved agricultural practices is estimated to be 1 to 6 Gt of carbon per year. In Africa, one of the most significant consequences of conventional agriculture is the rapid depletion of soil organic ma tter (SOM). Repeated cultivation and use degrades soils and lowers crop yields while increases production costs. African farmers have the potential to both reduce GHG emissions and increase agricultural yields. The technical mitigation potential of agriculture by 2030 in Africa reaches 2Gt of CO2-eq per year1 . With the promise of emission reductions, carbon finance could underwrite the training of farmers in new practices as well as establish Monitoring, Verifying, Reporting (MRV) systems to track that both carbon and agricultural benefits are accrued2 . As potential interest in African agricultural carbon projects grows, the pipeline of prospective projects also expands. Current performing carbon funded projects present four main similarities : (i) a clearly defined geographic delimitation, (ii) an aggregator which is a main organization grouping the beneficiaries and providing an eventual channel to provide incentives to beneficiaries, (iii) a clearly quantified carbon red uction target based on GHG calculator as FAO EX-ACT, and (iv) access to carbon funding support.

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Language English

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Also available in:

• Spanish

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