16 February 2010: The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has released EX-ACT (EX-ante Appraisal Carbon-balance Tool), a land-based accounting tool that provides ex-ante measurements of the impacts of agriculture and forestry projects on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and carbon sequestration.

The tool requires project designers to compile: a general description of the project; the identification of changes in land use and technologies foreseen by project components using specific “modules” (deforestation, afforestation and reforestation, annual/perennial crops, rice cultivation, grasslands, livestock, inputs, energy); and the computation of carbon-balance with and without the project. It produces a carbon balance with and without project activities. EX-ACT was designed jointly by the following three divisions of the FAO: Policy Assistance and Resource Mobilization Division; Investment Centre Division; and Agricultural Development and Economics Division. The BETA version of the EX-ACT tool is available on the the FAO’s EASYPol website. [Informational Flyer] [EASYPol Website]