Paper presented at the 52nd CFCS Annual Meeting, Guadeloupe, July 10-16, 2016 Guyana and Puerto Rico provided any substantial proposals to reduce GHGE in the agriculture sector. Emission from rice cultivation in Figure 1 shows that among some of the largest producers in the world, GHGE relative to human population, agricultural land area and production for the Caribbean nations are more comparable. Relative to production, the graph shows that all three (3) Caribbean nations had much higher emissions than Brazil, China and India, and suggest the need to improve on productivity to reduce these values.
4000
kg/tonne production
kg/capita
kg/ha agric land
3000
2000
1000
Brazil
China
Guyana
India
Suriname
Trinidad
Figure 1. Comparison of GHGE variables from rice production in a number of leading Caribbean and World producers.
Conclusion • GHGE statistics vary greatly depending on the emission metric used and while absolute emissions are extremely low in the Caribbean, values are comparable with even the largest, most populated regions/nations in the world when GHGE are considered relative to human population, agriculture land area or total country area. • Of the eight countries selected at the second stage of analysis, only Guadeloupe, Guyana and Puerto Rico showed any evidence of seriously considering GHGE reduction in the agriculture sector. • Mitigation in Agriculture must not lead to a decline in agricultural production so priority should be on implementing mitigation strategies that reduce GHGE relative to production (emission/production ratio) or some of the other performance-based metrics as there are limitations with the use of traditional metrics such as absolute emissions or GHGE based on population or land area. • The emission/production ratio methodology needs to be tested in the region (and likewise some of the other performancebased metrics as well) at the local and national levels to determine its value in prioritizing mitigations in agriculture while simultaneously pursuing a path of food security and improved climate change adaptability. References: Colomb, V., M. Martel, L. Bockel, S. Martin, J.L. Chotte and M. Bernoux, 2014. Promoting GHG Mitigation Policies for Agriculture and Forestry: A case study in Guadeloupe, French West Indies, Land Use Policy, (39) 1-11. Gould, W.A., S.J. Fain, I.K.Pares, K. McGinley,A. Perry, and R.F. Steele, 2015. Caribbean Regional Climate Sub Hub Assessment of Climate Change Vulnerability and Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies, United States Department of Agriculture. WRI, WBCSD, 2014. GHG Protocol Agricultural Guidance - Interpreting the Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard for the agricultural sector. Available at: http://www.ghgprotocol.org. http://faostat3.fao.org/home/E http://unfccc.int/national_reports/items/1408.php
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