The Governments of Thailand and New Zealand jointly hosted a 2-day workshop on measurement and mitigation of greenhouse gases in South-East Asian livestock systems, on 14/15 March 2012. 


The workshop was sponsored by the New Zealand Government (through the Ministry of Agriculture & Forestry (MAF)) as part of its support for the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases. The New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre (NZAGRC) provided logistical support as part of the contract it has with MAF. Scientists from AgResearch, Grasslands (Cesar Pinares) and Lincoln University (Professor Tim Clough) were also involved in the workshop. 


Dr Andy Reisinger, Deputy Director International NZAGRC attended the workshop. He said the workshop attracted participants from four South-East Asian countries - Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Viet Nam. Other countries had been invited but were unable to attend. 


&quot;Mr Ayuth Harintharanon, Director General of the Thailand Livestock Group of the Ministry of Agriculture, opened the workshop which supported the broader goals of the Livestock Research Group of the Global Research Alliance which New Zealand co-chairs, via Harry Clark Director of NZAGRC, with the Netherlands.&quot; 


Andy said the workshop was an important first step in helping build regional capacity within developing countries to understand, estimate and identify opportunities for reducing the intensity of greenhouse gas emissions from livestock. &quot;Scientific input and discussions at the workshop were co-ordinated by the NZAGRC, a partnership of nine research providers hosted by AgResearch, with expert inputs from a broad range of Global Research Alliance member countries (New Zealand, Australia, UK, Netherlands and Canada), as well as international organisations (The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)).&quot; 


&quot;Workshop participants identified and agreed a set of four activities designed to build regional capacity and advance knowledge on emissions and mitigation options. New Zealand is committed to working with the region as they prepare project concept notes, identify funding opportunities and apply for capacity building scholarships,&quot; said Andy. Details of these and other Livestock Research Group initiatives can be found on the Global Research Alliance website (www.globalresearchalliance.org). Other regional workshops are being planned for Africa and South Asia later this year. 


For more information please contact Victoria Hatton; Operations Manager (International) - NZAGRC (victoria.hatton@nzagrc.org.nz)