Inventory of GHG Emissions from Dairy Cattle in Kenya 1995-2017

The objective of Kenya’s livestock sub-sector is to contribute to food and nutrition security within the context of the national goal and ambition for a low carbon emission and climate resilient development pathway. Nationally,  the  livestock sub-sector contributes  about  36  %  and  over  95  %  of  the  total agricultural sector greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.These emissions arise from enteric fermentation and manure, which contribute about 54.8% and 40.7 % respectively, of agricultural sector emissions.

Considering  the  negative  effects  of  GHGs  on  the  climate  system  and  in  recognition of Kenya’s commitment and ambitions to mitigate climate change, it is incumbent upon the livestock sub-sector to reduce and remove these emissions. The periodic GHG inventory (emissions and their removals) in the  sub-sectorusing  recommended  international  guidelines  is  a  unique  opportunity  to  assess  the effectiveness  of  policies  and  measures  in  addressing  climate  change.  Additionally, such  inventories provide crucial evidence that should inform future planning for enhanced emission reductions fromthe  livestock  sub-sector.  A  case  in  point  on  the  use  of  GHG  inventory  to  inform  development  of livestock emissions mitigation is the Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMA) for the dairy industry that was developed in 2017 by the State Departmentfor Livestock (SDL). Contained in this report is the GHG inventory of Kenya’s dairy industry.

The report details the process involved  in  data  collection  and  basis  for  calculations  of  the  emissions  in  accordance  to  the Intergovernmental Panel for ClimateChange (IPCC) Tier 2 methods. The application of the IPCC Tier 2 methods is an improvement to the basic Tier 1 methods that were applied during the first livestock sub-sector GHG  inventory conducted  in  2015.The use  of  Tier  2  methods  in  the dairy  industryis deliberate and based on its importance to Kenya’s economy.The industry contributes an estimated 4 % to the GDP but also contributes 26 % of the total agricultural sector GHG emissions.