Building resilient agricultural systems to mitigate climate change

The worldwide demand for food is expected to grow over 70% by 2050, with a particular need for animal protein supply, which must be satisfied by increasing agricultural production. Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is considered a privileged region as it has significant natural land resources, a relatively low population density, and a high potential for increasing agricultural production. However, although more than 90% of the cultivated area in LAC is considered suitable for agriculture, the impact of climate change could negatively affect the capacity of these systems to provide ecosystem services, increasing their vulnerability to extreme climate events and reducing their productivity potential. The general objective of this technical cooperation is to contribute to the resilience and climate change mitigation capacity of LAC livestock systems. This will be achieved through the evaluation of integration practices with forest systems that allow increasing system carbon reserves, productive diversification, and environmental sustainability. Integrated agricultural systems, enhanced with sustainable intensification practices, are proposed as a critical solution for achieving high and stable yields while minimizing environmental impacts.

This technical cooperation between Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic will allow the quantification of the impacts of silvopastoral system (SPS) integration on environmental and productive indicators in different edaphoclimatic situations. The project outcomes will provide information to help identify and promote the most successful management practices that contribute to maintaining/enhancing the productivity potential of these systems without increasing greenhouse gases emission (GHG). To achieve those goals, we propose soil carbon stock measurements to evaluate the SPS potential for climate change mitigation and the field assessment of selected physiochemical and biological indicators of soil health as main axes that provide resilience to the systems. GHG emissions will be measured or calculated by the IPCC guidelines. The carbon footprint of integrated systems will be calculated and compared to traditional livestock systems. The project results will be available to the public and private sectors to promote policies that contribute to the implementation of SPS in LAC by considering the particularities of each country and productive region. The project is funded by the New Zealand Government as part of its contribution to the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA).