About the Author: Ambassador Ertharin Cousin serves as U.S. Representative to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture.

International efforts to diminish greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture took a significant step forward this summer when 34 countries signed the Charter for the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases.

For decades, studies by the United States and others have shown that agriculture is a significant contributor to greenhouse emissions — through crops, farm machinery, livestock methane gas emissions, and gases released in agricultural processing. We also know that climate change will have a range of effects on agriculture and consequently on emissions.

The Global Research Alliance recognizes the fact that no single nation has all the resources needed to effect meaningful, substantive, and lasting change. The Alliance provides a framework for countries to work together and identify best practices that can mitigate agricultural emissions… more »