Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Centre boosts Global Research Alliance co-ordination

Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Centre boosts Global Research Alliance co-ordination

The New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre (NZAGRC) has appointed Dr Andy Reisinger as Deputy Director - International, to work specifically on New Zealand’s commitments as part of the Global Research Alliance (the Alliance).

New Zealand launched the Alliance in December 2009, and it now has 30 member countries. It is aimed at bringing countries together to find ways to grow more food without growing greenhouse gas emissions. New Zealand and the Netherlands share the leadership of the Alliance’s Livestock Research Group.

Dr Reisinger has worked on identifying and modelling agricultural gas emissions, assessing impacts, vulnerability and adaptation strategies to climate change, and integration of adaptation and mitigation in risk assessments and global climate negotiations. He is also a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre Director, Dr Harry Clark, has welcomed Dr Reisinger’s appointment, “there is a significant amount of work ahead to achieve the goals of the Global Research Alliance and the NZAGRC and Dr Andy Reisinger’s appointment is a significant step in helping us achieve New Zealand’s goals for both. I am particularly pleased Dr Reisinger has agreed to join us as he is an exceptional scientist with unique expertise in a complex and rapidly evolving area of science.”

Dr Reisinger was most recently working as a Senior Research Fellow for the New Zealand Climate Change Research Institute, based at Victoria University of Wellington, and has a range of published papers on the measurement and quantification of agricultural greenhouse gases. He will be based in Wellington in the DairyNZ offices.

The New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre plays a leading role conducting and coordinating New Zealand research to reduce methane and nitrous oxide emissions, and to increase the rates of soil carbon accumulation.

Agriculture creates about half of New Zealand’s GHG emissions and also generates around 44 per cent of New Zealand’s merchandise export earnings. The challenge for the NZAGRC is to find ways for New Zealand to meet its international GHG emission obligations without reducing agricultural output.

The Centre is based in Palmerston North and is a collaboration between AgResearch, DairyNZ, Landcare Research, Lincoln University, Massey University, NIWA, Plant & Food Research, the Pastoral Greenhouse gas Research Centre (PGgRc), and Scion.