[CM-23-002] - Enhancing agricultural methane ambition in Cameroon's climate commitments and large-scale investments

Rationale

Agriculture employs half of Cameroon's workforce. The country’s 2021 updated NDC reports that in 2010, 69% (24.07 MtCO₂eq) of Cameroon’s GHG emissions came from the agriculture sector. Agriculture is recognised as one of the priority sectors in Cameroon’s last NDC representing 16.1% of its overall reduction ambition.

Rice is a major staple and is growing in production, and contributing significantly to national methane emissions. Methane emissions from the rice sector tripled between 2010 and 2018.

Although agriculture is categorised as a priority sector in Cameroon's latest NDC, the modelling is based on a generic model. The latest inventory that was undertaken in the country in 2020 is based on Tier 1 methods. This is the simplest tier that is adopted if there is limited country-specific data and emission factors.

Improved emissions data for the sector can better account for the impact of practice change on emissions from agriculture subsectors and can capture variations in emissions over time. 

This project will support Cameroon’s methane mitigation ambitions in the next NDC update in the livestock and rice sub-sectors with improved emission and emission reduction data. This project will also increase methane mitigation by supporting the implementation of Cameroon’s ‘National Climate Smart Livestock Strategy’, the revision and update of Cameroon’s national rice sector strategy, mainstreaming of methane mitigation into WB funded rice sector projects, and strengthening the capacity of the private sector on low emission rice production.

Objectives

This project aims to:

• Increase the capacity of The Government of Cameroon in compiling greenhouse gas and SLCP inventories for the rice and livestock sub-sectors.
• Enable The Government of Cameroon to adopt the evaluation of mitigation options in the agriculture sector and integrate priority SLCP mitigation measures, targets, and/or co-benefits assessments related to the rice and livestock sub-sectors in its revised NDC, implementation plan, MRV frameworks and other relevant plans and strategies by 2025.
• Enable The Government of Cameroon to approve recommendations for revising its national rice strategy to enhance methane mitigation and approves methane mitigation strategies for new World Bank supported rice projects by the end of the project or soon after.
• Increase the capacity of Cameroon’s main rice producing companies to produce low emission rice and improve sustainable business models.

Activities

To achieve these objectives the project will:

• Conduct training workshops for main rice producing companies to produce low emission rice.
• Development of improved sustainable business models for low emission rice.
• Conduct an evaluation of mitigation options in the rice sector to quantify their SLCP emission reduction potential to provide recommendations.
• Produce assessments and recommendations for the inclusion of SLCP reduction priorities, targets, and co-benefits in the agriculture sector in Cameroon's 2025 NDC and MRV framework.
• Produce recommendations for enhancing and implementing SLCP relevant mitigation options of Cameroon’s ‘National Climate Smart Livestock Strategy.
• Provide training on greenhouse gas inventory compilation at IPCC Tier 2 methods.
• Define data collection needs for the livestock and rice subsectors.
• Identify the climate change indicators, data collection and processing procedures, and recommendations of the organisations where indicator data can be obtained for the agriculture sector.
• Develop greenhouse gas and SLCP emissions and emission projection estimates from the agriculture sector, including methane from the livestock and rice sectors.