Transparency in agriculture: A key to successful climate action
How the SCALA Programme is helping countries meet their transparency goals
Transparency is essential in climate action, it goes far beyond reporting- it builds trust within and between countries, which is crucial as they scale up efforts in the agriculture, forestry, and other land-use (AFOLU) sectors. By strengthening international cooperation, transparency drives effective climate action that preserves the environment and secures livelihoods for present and future generations.
The SCALA Programme supports countries in translating their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and national adaptation plans (NAPs) into actionable and transformative climate solutions in land use and agriculture. Part of this means leveraging the expertise of FAO on transparency to help countries provide transparent information on their progress toward accomplishing the objectives of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This includes supporting them in building greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) inventories and establishing and reporting climate-related actions, as a way of meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement.
In this context, we sat down with FAO climate change experts Paolo Prosperi and Viviane Umulisa to discuss what transparency means, what opportunities and challenges exist within the agriculture sector, and how SCALA is helping countries meet their transparency obligations in agriculture and land use.
How do you define transparency in the context of climate action and international agreements?
Paolo Prosperi: Transparency – alongside accuracy, completeness, comparability, and consistency – is one of the five core principles outlined in the 2006 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) guidelines. These principles are essential for calculating and reporting GHG inventories in a clear and consistent manner to the UNFCCC.
Transparency involves providing clear, detailed documentation on the methods and data used in compiling GHG inventories, ensuring they adhere to good practice standards.
The Paris Agreement further emphasized this concept by establishing an Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF), which demands countries to report on the progress of their Nationally Determined Contributions NDCs every two years through the Biennial Transparency Reports (BTRs). This ensures that countries' climate actions’ results are clear, verifiable, and in line with their commitments to combating climate change.
From your perspective, what are the main benefits of transparency in global climate agreements and initiatives? How do these benefits directly impact stakeholders?
Paolo Prosperi: Transparency in global climate agreements and initiatives extends beyond providing data and evidence about national processes. It is a fundamental principle of mutual respect within the global community, fostering trust and confidence towards achieving the collective goal of the Paris Agreement to stabilize GHG concentrations at levels that prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system.
Transparency represents an honest and expert approach to addressing the complexities of climate and climate dynamics. Along with the principle of continuous improvement, it encourages Parties to the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement to enhance their internal capacities and commitments. This allows them to build data for more informed decision-making and establish more realistic targets. It also allows Parties to better understand their status in relation to climate processes, allocate resources more effectively, attract more investments and financial support from donors, and ultimately tackle climate change more efficiently.
What do you see as the most important aspects of transparency?
Paolo Prosperi: Transparency in climate action involves setting up and optimizing several critical components.
Institutional arrangements are essential, as they define roles, responsibilities, processes, timelines, and resources for reporting. These arrangements also establish protocols for data collection, provision, sharing, and treatment. In addition, robust infrastructure and technical capacities, including equipment, archives, and expertise, are necessary to implement the provisions of the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement effectively and sustainably. Moreover, strong political engagement, along with sufficient financial and human resources, is crucial for ensuring that these efforts are carried out successfully.
These components were collectively referred to as the Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) system for GHG inventories and mitigation actions, as well as the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) system for adaptation actions, and now as the ETF system.
Institutional arrangements are fundamental for a transparent MRV/M&E–ETF system, and FAO, UNDP, as well as other agencies provide a great deal of support to countries in this respect to facilitate meeting their climate-related obligations.
In the context of the SCALA programme, what are the main challenges to achieving transparency in climate actions within the agriculture sector?
Viviane Umulisa: In many developing countries, the agriculture, forestry and other land-use (AFOLU) sectors are among the major sources of national GHG emissions, making accurate reporting crucial. However, these countries face challenges such as weak institutional arrangements, limited data availability, insufficient technical capacity, and high turnover among personnel involved in inventory compilation.
Additionally, the new BTR under the ETF requires reporting on progress in implementing and achieving NDCs. This adds to the challenge as many countries are unfamiliar with the new reporting formats and tools, exacerbating existing issues with data availability and institutional weaknesses. The SCALA programme offers countries expertise and tailored support specifically on fulfilling these new reporting requirements.
How can these challenges be effectively addressed?
Viviane Umulisa: First, having the right information on transparency requirements is key. Following the establishment of the ETF under the Paris Agreement, Parties agreed on modalities, procedures, and guidelines that detail the requirements and activities, including for the agriculture sector.
Second, countries need support from organizations, such as FAO and UNDP, that work on climate action at a global level. For instance, FAO helps by improving data collection and providing global datasets to estimate GHG emissions and removals. Resources include FAOSTAT, the Global Forest Resources Assessment, and tools for developing GHG inventories, assessing AFOLU sector mitigation policies, and tracking NDCs. Further, the SCALA programme has developed the Climate Action Review (CAR) tool, the “monitoring and evaluation” function of which helps iteratively track the contribution of ongoing adaptation efforts to transformative climate action. Now we need to enhance and disseminate more widely these kinds of useful tools and resources at the country level.
Third, effective collaboration among national, sub-regional, and international stakeholders is crucial for meeting the BTR deadline by the end of 2024.
Where has the SCALA programme successfully enhanced transparency and accountability in countries’ agriculture sectors?
Viviane Umulisa: SCALA has played a key role in enhancing transparency in agriculture sector across multiple countries in three regions. Efforts are concentrated on three main areas: assessing gaps for strengthening MRV and M&E systems, supporting access to funds for BTR preparation and capacity building, and providing technical assistance for capacity building. These efforts are facilitated by tools developed by FAO to help countries meet NDC requirements, including preparation, analysis, revision, and reporting under the ETF.
In Uganda and Côte d'Ivoire, SCALA assessed national MRV and M&E systems, identified gaps, and provided recommendations to bridge those gaps and strengthen stakeholders' coordination and collaboration. For instance, in Côte d'Ivoire, the MRV assessment reports informed the European Union-funded ‘Low-Carbon Transition’ project to centralize the country’s MRV systems.
In Senegal, Cambodia, Colombia, and Ethiopia, SCALA focused on providing technical trainings and assessing MRV gaps to improve system capabilities, using various tools such as the NDC Tracking Tool and the NEXT tool, among others.
In Senegal, SCALA improved the identification of indicators and data collection for tracking NDC implementation in the AFOLU sector, contributing to a monitoring report and a manual for MRV procedures. In Cambodia, the programme helped assess GHG mitigation actions and developed an indicator framework for the Climate Change Action Plan.
Meanwhile, in Colombia, the programme consolidated the agricultural Damage & Loss Assessment System and designed an M&E system to certify adaptation measures for small and medium farms, thereby enhancing resilience tracking. In Ethiopia, the programme provided support to strengthen the technical capability of national experts in the AFOLU sectors for GHG emissions accounting, improving inventory for the sectors and guidance for reporting under the ETF, followed by assistance in designing a proposal for accessing the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Enabling Activity funds for the preparation of the BTR.
Finally, in Egypt, SCALA is supporting the development of an M&E framework for Egypt’s National Adaptation Plan in the agrifood sector and aligning it with the indicators of the Global Goal on Adaptation.
At the global level, SCALA produced several publications related to transparency, including robust analyses of NDCs, which will help inform the revision of NDCs by 2025, and guidance on adaptation indicators linked to the Global Goal on Adaptation.
These accomplishments are made possible through robust collaboration, linking country-specific experiences and need with the technical expertise and resources developed by the programme, UNDP and FAO.