Challenges and opportunities for the development of the Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) in the livestock sector in Colombia and Costa Rica

Livestock production plays an important role in the economies of Colombia and Costa Rica; livestock production creates direct and indirect jobs and accounts for 32% and 21% of the land used. From an environmental point of view, livestock production contributes to the biological connectivity and forest cover, but it is also a major emitter of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Within the context of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and with the purpose of achieving the proposed Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) in the Paris Agreement, both countries pledged to reduce emissions from livestock production activities. To achieve this goal, they committed to develop Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) that seek to transform livestock production by increasing production levels and improving the carbon balance. LivestockPlus is one of four strategic initiatives designed at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) under CIAT's new strategy for the period 2014-2020 to open new paths to improve the development and impact of CGIAR's research. LivestockPlus specifically aims to improve sustainable intensification of livestock production, based on the use of improved forages (Rao et al., 2015). The LivestockPlus project is challenged to support, study, and test field strategies proposed by the NAMA to reach competitiveness levels. Thus far, both countries have faced challenges and opportunities during the conceptualization and piloting of the NAMAs. It is necessary to address and overcome limitations and take advantage of the opportunities the livestock sector offers to achieve the proposed livestock goals in both countries. What NAMAs are and their importance NAMAs commit to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) below 'business as usual' levels, as projected by the countries implementing them, and are framed in the context of sustainable development. They emerged from a combination of the institutional crisis resulting from the non-compliance with the Kyoto Protocol, increasing GHG emissions from developing countries (UNEP, 2016), and as a way to conceptualize the mitigation contributions developing countries could make with the support of developed countries (Carbon Market Watch, 2015). The term NAMA was first introduced in 2007 in Bali, within the framework of the Thirteenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (Lutken, Dransfeld, & Wehner, 2013). It was established that NAMAs should be tailored C C A F S I N F O N O T E 2 to the needs and conditions of each country, and they should also be measurable, reportable and verifiable, as well as supported and facilitated by technology transfer, funding, and capacity building (Mendieta, 2013). At the national level, NAMAs must be framed within national climate change policies. Colombia and Costa Rica are excellent case studies for analyzing climate change programs in the land use, land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF) sector, which includes the transformation of rural soils, agriculture, and livestock production (Tubiello, 2014). Both countries have expressed to the international community their intentions to develop NAMAs in the livestock production sector to reduce adverse effects to the environment and contribute to economic development, particularly in rural areas. The LivestockPlus project, which is aligned with CGIAR strategy to improve productivity and sustainability of the livestock sector in the tropics, aims to support the aforementioned NAMA-related initiatives in the field through research to validate and share technologies that are both profitable for farmers and lower GHG emissions. Role of agriculture and livestock production in Colombia and Costa Rica In 2012, the LULUCF sector, also referred to as the agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU) sector, accounted for 43% of Colombia's total GHG emissions (70 MtCO2 ). In the LULUCF sector, methane from bovine enteric fermentation accounted for 28%, transformation of land to pastures accounted for 36.1%, and urine and manure in grasslands, which covers emissions associated with nitrous oxide from managed soils, accounted for 17% (IDEAM, 2016). In Costa Rica in 2012, emissions from the LULUCF sector were 1.1 MtCO2, only 10% of the total annual emissions in the Central American country. Emissions were balanced by significant reforestation dynamics that generated net emissions of -2.07 MtCO2. In Costa Rica, emissions from enteric fermentation were 0.1 MtCO2 and transformation of land to pastures resulted in emissions of approximately 3 MtCO2 (IMN, 2015). In both countries, livestock production is significant in rural areas. Colombia has 23,000,000 heads of cattle, or 0.47 animals per capita (Fedegan, 2010), and Costa Rica has 1,300,000 heads of cattle, or 0.26 animals per capita (Corfoga, 2014).In Colombia livestock production represents 950,000 direct and indirect jobs, while in Costa Rica livestock production represents 180,000 jobs. In terms of demand, Colombian citizens consume approximately 20 kg of beef and 153 liters of milk per capita per year (Fedegan, 2010). In Costa Rica, consumption is 15.5 kg of beef and 200 liters of milk per capita per year (MAG, 2015). Livestock production in Colombia accounts for 32% of the national territory, equivalent to approximately 37,000,000 ha of pasture. Costa Rica has approximately 1,100,000 ha of pasture, representing 21.5% of the national territory. Colombia's stocking rate is 0.61 animals per ha, while in Costa Rica it is 1.1 animals per hectare. Other production parameters of this activity can be found in Table 1. Table 1. Livestock production parameters for Colombia and Costa Rica Parameter Colombia Costa Rica Birth rate (%) 0.58 0.64 Calving interval (days) 627 600 Weight gain (g/day) 350 325 Dual-purpose: Productivity (liters/head/year) 931 810 Specialized: Productivity (liters/head/year) 3000 3950 Source: FEDEGAN (2006); CORFOGA (2000); Barrientos & Villegas