The Global Research Alliance on agricultural greenhouse gases (GRA) held its second Senior Officials Meeting from 28 February to 4 March, organised by INRA with the support of the French Ministry of Agriculture, Food, Fisheries, Rural Affairs and Spatial Planning, the Ministry of Environment Protection, Sustainable Development, Transport and Housing and the Ministry of Higher Education and Research. The Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse gases is an international consortium of 31 countries which works to find ways of improving agricultural productivity while cutting greenhouse gas emissions. GRA working groups were hosted at three INRA research centres: Clermont-Ferrand-Theix, Versailles-Grignon, and Orleans.
The primary goal of the GRA is to foster cooperation and coordination in agricultural greenhouse gas research. Agriculture produces 13.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The secretariat of the consortium is based in New Zealand.
The second Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) brought together the Alliance’s three research groups (paddy rice, crops, livestock) for working sessions, the governance working group, and included workshops for cross-cutting issues . The SOM, held at the Palais de Congres de Versailles, was an opportunity to coordinate the Alliance ‘as a whole’, establish research agendas, finalise the Alliance Charter and prepare the Ministerial Summit to be held in New Zealand in June 2011 .
Field trips were organised by member representatives and scientists on 28 February at the INRA Grignon Site (crops and paddy rice groups) and at the INRA Clermont-Ferrand – Theix site (livestock group). Each research group subsequently met at the Grignon, Clermont-Ferrand and Versailles sites on 1 March for working sessions and at a plenary session at the Palais des Congres de Versailles. A workshop* on the cross-cutting issue of soil carbon and nitrogen cycling to compare international research tools in this field was held on 4 March at the end of the conference at the INRA Orleans Centre.
Written by :
Communications Department Contacts :
Gilles Aumont, délégué scientifique pour l'international & Jean-Francois Soussanna, scientific director "Environment" Label for the news :
Article Date for the news :
2011.03.15
Date of creation : 15/03/2011
Date of last update : 21/03/2011
See also
