Making a real difference to the planet

Ten new research projects aimed at developing solutions to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture and forestry and improve national GHG inventories have just been launched. The projects were funded under the EU ERA-GAS programme, which was co-ordinated by Teagasc. “This is only the second time that an Irish organisation has led this type of project,” says ERA-GAS consortium manager Dr Órlaith Ní Choncubhair.

She explains that while the EU Horizon 2020 research programme has €8 billion to finance research projects, much funding still comes from national organisations. "A lot of funding for research and innovation in Europe is still provided at national level. For example, in Ireland we have the Department of Agriculture and the Marine, SFI and Enterprise Ireland, who provide a lot of funding for agricultural research. Challenge of climate change has to be tackled on a transnational basis and that's where ERA-GAS comes in."

ERA-GAS allows for a pooling of national funding sources and there has to be at least three partners from different member states involved in each project. An average of seven partners were involved in the 10 projects which have received funding.

Project proposals were subjected to a two-stage evaluation process by an international evaluation committee, which was managed by the Research and Codex Division of the Irish Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Over the next three years, the 10 successful projects will conduct collaborative research to develop improved GHG mitigation solutions, reporting mechanisms and policy instruments for the agriculture and forestry sector.

‘Global challenge’

“International cooperation is urgently needed to tackle the global challenge posed by climate change and food security,” says Dr Frank O’Mara of Teagasc. who is also coordinator of ERA-GAS. “Efforts are required to increase the GHG efficiency of food, feed and fuel, enhance carbon sinks and refine national inventories. Through transnational research, the ERA-GAS projects will develop innovative mitigation and monitoring solutions that extend beyond the local context.”

There is Irish involvement in five of the projects, with Irish organisations leading two of them, according to Ní Choncubhair. One of these is Methlab, which is being led by Prof Catherine Stanton of Teagasc Moorepark.

“This project is looking at lactic-acid bacteria to see if they can be used to reduce methane emissions from cattle and sheep,” says Ní Choncubhair. “Methane emissions are determined by the rumen microbiome and this is a huge area of research globally. Six different partners are involved in the project, including an Italian SME which produces starter cultures for food products. This is a very important area for Ireland. We might be able to reduce greenhouse gases in a sustainable way and that’s important for all of us.”

GHG-Manage is led by Professor Bruce Osborne of UCD. “Teagasc is also involved in this project,” Ní Choncubhair adds. “It’s going to look at greenhouse gases at a landscape scale. They will use different technologies and tools to get an idea of greenhouse-gas emissions for different landscape types.”

This should help in the reporting of emissions to the UN. Many countries have difficulties in reporting anything but generalised data, with little information provided on emissions from different soil types and land uses. GHG-Manage will assist in the production of better data and help with the development of targeted reduction measures.

The Magge pH project is led by the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and includes NUIG and Teagasc among its partners. “This is looking at the impact of soil Ph on nitrous oxide emissions. Nitrous oxide is a very potent greenhouse gas. It is 300 times more potent than CO2 when it comes to global warming. If you can increase the pH of moderately acidic soils, you can reduce emissions. The project will look at the microbial processes that are responsible for the production and consumption of nitrous oxide within soils and look at liming and other techniques to increase pH.”

Another interesting project, but without Irish involvement, is 3Dformod, led by IRD in France. It is using remote sensing, terrestrial laser scanning and other technologies to look at carbon stocks in tropical rainforests in Central Africa, Northern Amazonia, and Asia.

“We are one globe,” says Ní Choncubhair. “We have to focus on solutions that are sustainable and don’t shift greenhouse-gas production from one area to another. If we are efficient at producing things like dairy and beef it will be good for all of us.”