Fulfilling global environmental commitments and goals requires accurate information due to the number of challenges that countries face. A clear understanding of these challenges facilitates the creation and implementation of accurate strategies, involving all stakeholders, and enables the monitoring and implementation of policies and measures to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and promote countries’ sustainable development goals.

National Communications and more recently Biennial Update Reports (BUR) are the instruments through which countries are reporting their National Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Since 2014, 44 developing countries have submitted their first BUR to the UNFCCC, almost 30% of these were submitted by the Latin American and Caribbean Region (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Jamaica, México, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay). All these countries have also gone through the International Consultation and Analysis (ICA) process under the UNFCCC. This process aims to increase the transparency of mitigation actions and their effects, and involves a technical analysis of the BUR and a facilitative sharing of views.

In 2014, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) organized a regional workshop for Mesoamerican countries aiming to identify gaps and needs to prepare and report national GHG inventories as well as to facilitate south-south cooperation knowledge exchange (press release, report). As part of ongoing support to countries, and the commitment assumed during the Second meeting of the Latin American Network on GHG inventory (report), on 7 September the FAO and the UN-REDD Programme, in collaboration with the Virtual Center of Excellence in Forest Monitoring of Mesoamerica (CEVMF, acronym in Spanish) and GIZ launched an innovative capacity development initiative in Spanish that combines digital education platforms, FAO technical specialised tutoring and discussion forums for the construction of Greenhouse Gas Inventories (GHGI) of the agriculture sector (press release).

Within the framework of the Mesoamerican Strategy for Environmental Sustainability (EMSA, acronym in Spanish), government representatives from Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Panama working in the ministry of environment or agriculture or agencies directly involved in the preparation of the national GHG inventories are strengthening their technical capacities through this initiative to achieve more accurate estimates.  This capacity development initiative is part of a plan for South-South Cooperation in forest monitoring that seeks to strengthen the capacities of the countries in the region and improve coordination among the inter-institutional teams involved in the GHG inventories. Representatives from Argentina, Ecuador and Peru were also invited to participate.

The initiative will end with a face-to-face workshop to be held in Tegucigalpa, Honduras from 3 to 7 December 2018. The workshop aims to share the lessons learned, and strengthen the countries' technical and institutional capacities to progress in and follow-up on the commitments of the Paris Agreement, and the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as to improve reporting to the UNFCCC and linkages with Nationally Determined Contributions.

Useful links:

FAO’s e-learning Centre: The national GHG inventory for agriculture (English, Spanish)

More about The UN-REDD Programme

More about FAO's work on NFMS and GHG Inventories

Press release in Spanish: Países de Mesoamérica refuerzan sus capacidades para enfrentar el cambio climático

For more information, please contact:

Carla Ramirez

South-South cooperation in forest monitoring advisor, REDD+/NFM Cluster

Forestry Department, FAO Subregional Office for Central America

[email protected]

Rocío Cóndor

Measurement, Reporting and Verification Expert, REDD+/NFM Cluster

Forestry Department, FAO Rome

[email protected]

Lucio Santos

REDD+ LAC Coordinator, REDD+/NFM Cluster

Forestry Department, FAO Subregional Office for Central America

[email protected]

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