© Martin Herold
What is WUR doing at the climate conference?
‘I am pleased to see that WUR has a fairly large delegation at this year’s climate conference. There are professors from various science groups, with people working on climate change in relation to agriculture and forests and on climate policy. WUR is involved in more than ten meetings, both directly at the conference and at the sidelines. I look forward to the meeting on forests and agriculture on Thursday, when Louise Fresco, Chair of the Executive Board, will join us in Madrid. There are also master’s students from Wageningen who support the secretariat of the UN conference in their daily work.’
What is at stake?
‘The primary task is to put the Paris climate agreement into practice. In this context, we will certainly also be debating the role of forests and agriculture in reaching that agreement. I expect tough discussions about the trade in CO2-emission rights, market instruments and legislation to combat global warming, as well as the financing of these measures. All countries must have their adjusted climate plans completed by the end of next year. At this conference, it will become clear how ambitious the plans of the participants are and how quickly they want to implement them. I hope that the conference will also give direction to the WUR research agenda.’
What role does science play in Madrid?
‘There will be discussions regarding the transparency of climate policy and regarding the quality of measurements and reports in the area greenhouse gases. Our research could play a role here in making better use of research data in climate policy. We will certainly address this during various discussion panels. We will discuss multi-year climate data in land use and how improvements to these data sets could improve the modelling and predictions of climate change. Finally, I am curious to see how the discussion regarding the national reporting of greenhouse gas emissions will proceed. I was the main author of an IPCC report on this topic, in which we proposed improvements. We will discuss this with the UN countries.’