3rd Global Sustainable Rice Conference and Exhibition 2024 Highlights Sustainable Transformation in the Rice Sector

• The conference emphasized the need to align rice production with the Paris Agreement, UN SDGs, and other pledges, as well as its critical role in sustainable food systems and climate action.
• The discussions ranged from sustainable practices for smallholder farmers to advancements in MRV systems for tracking and reducing rice emissions.
• The event explored climate financing and carbon markets to fund low-emission rice technologies and the need for scalable investments.

Bangkok, Thailand - 26-27 November 2024. The 3rd Global Sustainable Rice Conference and Exhibition 2024 (SRP Conference 2024), held under the theme "Sustainable Rice: Food, Climate and People," convened global experts, policymakers, researchers, and industry leaders at the United Nations Conference Centre. With rice touching the lives of over half the world's population, the event emphasized the crop's role in sustainable food systems and combating climate change.

Yvonne Pinto, Director General of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), delivered a keynote during the conference's opening ceremony. She underscored the urgent need to transform the global rice sector to align with the Paris Agreement and the Methane Pledge. She emphasized rice's connection to multiple UN Sustainable Development Goals, highlighting its critical importance in fostering sustainable development while addressing climate challenges.

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During the conference, Kazuki Saito, Senior Scientist at IRRI, joined in on conversations highlighting innovations in sustainable rice production tailored to smallholder farmers, including "Zero-burning" residue management techniques. He engaged with the panelists and audience on IRRI's ongoing research activities that deliver tangible environmental, economic, and health benefits to pave the way for scalable and sustainable practices. They include low GI rice varieties, straw management options, the ORYZA model, and approaches to co-developed agronomic solutions used under the CGIAR initiative 'Excellence in Agronomy'.

Throughout the event, the discussions addressed leveraging climate finance and carbon markets to drive the adoption of low-emission rice technologies. It was emphasized to explore collaborative strategies and mechanisms for funding and to increase investments in low-emission rice that are available to date. Various projects or pilots are concurrently implemented to scale low-emission rice through grants and carbon finance mechanisms. In contrast, the latter requires further investment to extend its coverage. Also, the current carbon price for avoidance projects is considered too low, making it difficult to develop economically viable projects.

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Bjoern Ole Sander, IRRI's Country Representative to Thailand, furthered discussions on the decarbonization of rice cultivation with transparent, accurate, and cost-effective Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) systems. IRRI's tools to collect data on the ground and report on rice emissions, such as RiceMoRe, in combination with remote satellite observation technologies hold significant potential for scaling these initiatives. IRRI is continuously developing technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and pursuing strategies towards sustainable rice.

The SRP Conference 2024 provided a platform to align global efforts in addressing the rice sector's environmental impact while enhancing the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. The event highlighted innovative projects, funding opportunities, and the technological tools to transform the rice sector for sustainability and climate resilience.