Botswana Project

Timeframe

November 2021 to April 2023

Context

Agriculture plays a key role in Botswana’s economy.
It is the main source of livelihood in its rural areas.

Over time, agriculture’s contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has declined (partly due to climate change) to about 3%, of which around 80% is from livestock production.

Botswana’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) of 2016 established an overall emissions reduction target of 15% by 2030 compared to 2010. Action on livestock emissions requires that Zambia uses a more advanced and accurate method to quantify GHG emissions. Botswana’s big challenge is to increase food production while decreasing GHG emissions.

Botswana’s previous GHG inventory used the Tier 1 method. Some development partners had previous expressed interest in GHG mitigation in the beef sector, but no previous work had been done. No staff at inventory compilation agencies or in the agriculture sector had prior experience of Tier 2 inventory compilation.
Support to Botswana was provided as part of a regional support project in which Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, and Mozambique, with technical support from South Africa, were assisted to compile a Tier 2 inventory for cattle using country-specific information where available and regional information from the other participating countries where necessary. The project was designed and implemented during the pandemic and involved remote technical support with no in-country missions.
Tier 2 inventory compilation: A Tier 2 inventory of emissions from cattle was compiled and discussed in a national validation workshop. The inventory was compiled largely by experts at the National Agriculture Research and Development Institute (NARDI), with support from the Department of Agricultural Research (DAR), Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (BUAN), University of Botswana (UB) and Statistics Botswana (SB). Stakeholders currently plan to include the Tier 2 cattle inventory in the second BTR to be submitted in 2026.
Strengthened basis for GHG mitigation policy development: During the validation workshop, stakeholders discussed that better understanding of GHG emissions from the cattle industry would enable the country to plan and adjust production practices to reduce its carbon footprint. This is particularly relevant in the commercial sector where export markets are increasingly paying attention to the carbon footprint of beef production. In its 2024 updated NDC, Botswana includes improved cattle feed as a mitigation option. The Tier 2 inventory provides a better basis for further elaborating technical measures and tracking the effects of policies and measures on GHG emissions.

Reports

Project Summary PDF (June 2024)

FANRPAN Regional Project final briefing (2023)

Project Information

Impact

The NZCSA project was implemented as a pilot of regional inventory support for four countries Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho and Mozambique. It was completed on time in April 2023 and all objectives were met. The CSA Initiative has helped build Botswana’s capability and capacity to accurately measure and report cattle emissions using the Tier 2 method for the first time.

The training means there are now people in the country who can produce these internationally required reports. We increased government and industry awareness and collaboration on livestock emissions by making the first Tier 2 cattle inventory team led by NARDI, linking this cattle inventory team into the national GHG inventory process and having workshops with livestock sector institutions to improve and share their data.

Implementation Partners