
- On 15 and 16 November, CIHEAM Zaragoza will host an international meeting on climate change and agriculture organised together with INIA-CSIC, in the framework of Spain's presidency of the Global Research Alliance on Greenhouse Gases
- The event will bring together representatives from more than twenty countries as well as national and international institutions
On 15 and 16 November, CIHEAM Zaragoza will organise an international seminar on greenhouse gas emissions and climate change mitigation in the Mediterranean agricultural sectors. The event has the collaboration and support of the National Institute for Agricultural and Food Research and Technology of the Spanish National Research Council (INIA-CSIC) in the framework of the presidency of the Global Research Alliance on Greenhouse Gases (GRA) and will bring together representatives from ministries, international organisations (GRA, PRIMA, OECD, FAO or the European Commission), as well as experts and scientists from countries in the Mediterranean basin and other Mediterranean climate zones of the world.
The agricultural sectors of these countries play an important role in the region's economy and food security. However, they also contribute to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions which, as is well known, have adverse effects on climate change.
Mitigating greenhouse gas emissions in the agricultural sectors of the Mediterranean basin countries requires a multi-faceted approach that includes improved agricultural and livestock management techniques, sustainable land management practices, the adoption of renewable energies and supportive policies. By implementing these measures, these countries can contribute to climate change mitigation while ensuring sustainable agricultural development.
However, the complexity of these issues, the current gaps between countries in the accurate estimation of emissions, and the common need to identify, validate and test adaptive strategies for mitigation, call for joint actions to strengthen research, promote knowledge sharing on these issues and enhance the capacities of researchers in all Mediterranean countries.

CIHEAM Zaragoza promotes a Mediterranean network on GHG mitigation
The aim of this event is to bring together experts from the countries of the Mediterranean basin to share the current state of scientific knowledge in the region on the quantification of emissions and mitigation, as well as to explore the potential and feasibility of collaborative activities between experts and organisations in these countries to transfer knowledge, methods and experiences, strengthen scientific cooperation and reduce identified knowledge gaps. Ultimately, to create the starting point for a Mediterranean network on GHG mitigation in the agricultural, livestock, forestry and land use change sectors.
In-person participation in the seminar is by invitation only, but there are open sessions that can be followed face-to-face or on-line via streaming:
Programme of the open sessions
15 November | Open sessions (face-to-face and online) 9:00-9:15 | Opening Raúl Compés (Director, CIHEAM Zaragoza) Esther Esteban (Director, INIA-CSIC) 9:15-11:15 | Scientific approach (Moderators: Agustín del Prado – BC3, Spain; David Yáñez, EEZ-CSIC, Spain) - Climate change and Mediterranean Agriculture (Ana Iglesias – Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain) - Emissions quantification and Mitigation Strategies – Livestock systems (Harry Clark – New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre - NZAGRC) - Emissions quantification and Mitigation Strategies – Cropping systems (José Luis Gabriel – INIA-CSIC, Spain) 11:45-13:30 | Institutional approach (Moderators: Jorge Álvaro Fuentes – CSIC-EEAD; Antonio López-Francos – CIHEAM Zaragoza) - Spanish Strategy for climate change in agricultural sectors. *Esperanza Orellana (Director of Agricultural productions and market, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Spain) - Round table: Emissions and Mitigation: science, knowledge, action and cooperation. Programmes and tools supporting joint/collaborative action towards mitigation of agricultural emissions in the Mediterranean: *GRA (Harry Clark, Special representative, GRA) *PRIMA (Omar Amawi, Deputy Director) *OECD (Ada Ignaciuk, Senior Climate Change Specialist) *FAO (Dominik Wisser, Livestock policy officer, Animal production and health division) *European Commission (Nicola di Virgilio, Unit B2-Environmental Sustainability- DG AGRI) 15 November | Open sessions (on-line) 14:45-17:45 | The state of the art in Mediterranean countries (I) (Moderators: Ramzi Belkhodja, Maite Aguinaco – CIHEAM Zaragoza) State of the art of the scientific knowledge on emissions quantification and mitigation alternatives in the region: advances, gaps, institutional mapping, quantification of the main emissions across sectors and processes, and mitigation options, etc. Presentations from 6 countries representatives: Albania (10’) - Abdulah Diku (ILIRIA Association, consultant UNDP Albania) - Lumtury Papa (Agricultural University of Tirana) Egypt (20’) - Ayman Abou Hadid (Ain Shams Univ.) - Amr S. Morsy (Arid Lands Cultivation Research Institute) Greece (20’) - Thomas Barzanas (Agricultural Univ. of Athens) - Anna Vatsanidou (National and Kapodistrian Univ. of Athens) Italy (20’) - Alessandra Lagomarsino (CREA-AA) - Marcello Mele (Univ. Pisa) Lebanon (20’) - Nadim Farajallah (American Univ. of Beirut) - George Mitri (Univ. Balamand) 16 November | Open sessions (on-line) 9:00-11:00 | The state of the art in Mediterranean countries (II) (Moderators: Andrés Schlageter; Antonio López-Francos – CIHEAM Zaragoza) Malta (20’) - TBC Portugal (20’) - David Fangueiro (Univ. Lisbon) - Paulo Canaveira (Environmental Agency) Morocco (20’) - Rachid Mrabet (INRA Morocco) - Mouad Chentouf (INRA Morocco) Spain (20’) - María José Fernández (Univ. Rey Juan Carlos) - Alejandro Belanche (Univ. Zaragoza) Tunisia (20’) - Hichem Ben Salem (IRESA) - Mohamed Annabi (INRAT) Türkiye (20’) - Yusuf Serengil (Univ. Istanbul) - Erda Celer (FAO Ankara) | |