Modeling and parameterizing greenhouse gas emission reduction solutions

Climate change is an irreversible trend, and Vietnam is no exception in joining the global community's efforts to address this challenge. Rice cultivation in Vietnam currently accounts for approximately 46% of total greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector. However, this is also considered a field with significant potential for emission reduction and the promotion of sustainable production.

Over the past three years, the Australian Government and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) have funded a collaboration between the Institute of Agricultural Environment and Queensland University of Technology to implement the project “Supporting greenhouse gas inventory in rice production in Vietnam.” This project plays a crucial role in strengthening the Institute’s capacity, developing methodologies, and producing technical guidelines for greenhouse gas emission inventories. At the same time, it supports the identification and implementation of emission reduction measures in rice cultivation, with the potential to expand to other crops and farming techniques across different ecological regions.

The workshop “Supporting greenhouse gas inventories in agriculture: enhancing technical and governance insights for rice production in Vietnam” is part of a series of activities under the project Supporting greenhouse gas inventory in rice production in Vietnam.

According to Mr. Mai Van Trinh, Director of the Institute of Agricultural Environment, improving greenhouse gas inventory methodologies, selecting appropriate emission reduction measures, developing and implementing measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) systems, and advancing the carbon credit market in agriculture are currently among the Institute’s top priorities.

"The workshop is an opportunity for the Institute to share project outcomes on the application of emission factors and the improvement of greenhouse gas inventory quality, results from field experiments to develop greenhouse gas emission factors, the use of the DayCent model to simulate greenhouse gas mitigation solutions, as well as proposals for greenhouse gas inventory management measures in agriculture based on rice production systems - with the potential for scaling up to other crops," Director Mai Van Trinh stated.

Mr. Leigh Vial, Research Program Director at ACIAR, emphasized that climate is a central theme across all of the center's research programs. Within the framework of cooperation with the Institute of Agricultural Environment, ACIAR places particular importance on integrating both mitigation and adaptation strategies to climate change - two essential elements that must be implemented in parallel to achieve sustainable outcomes.

"Adaptive capacity to climate change has not yet received adequate investment, even though it is a key factor in stabilizing agricultural production. To develop sustainable agriculture, we need to build a set of practical tools that can be transformed into concrete solutions for farmers. I believe this workshop will generate many initiatives and technologies that can be widely applied in the future. Climate adaptation requires even more creative efforts — because farmers are at the heart of all solutions," said Mr. Leigh Vial.

Ms. Nguyen Giang Thu, Deputy Director of the Department of Science and Technology, highly appreciated the support and collaboration of ACIAR and Queensland University of Technology with the Institute of Agricultural Environment in implementing the project “Supporting greenhouse gas inventory in rice production in Vietnam.”

"To date, the project has achieved many notable results. Through this workshop, we have the opportunity to come together to share research experiences, propose and recommend policy mechanisms, and build a connected network to develop a greenhouse gas inventory system for rice cultivation in particular and the agriculture sector in general," Ms. Thu emphasized.

DayCent is a prominent biogeochemical model widely used around the world. This model not only predicts crop yields and simulates soil carbon content and fertility but also calculates greenhouse gas emissions with high accuracy. It has been validated for rice cultivation in China and Bangladesh and applied for greenhouse gas inventories in the United States as well as for global voluntary carbon credit systems.

Currently, the model is being calibrated by experts from the Institute of Agricultural Environment and Queensland University of Technology, Australia, to suit the real conditions in Vietnam.