Greenhouse Gas Emissions:

The agricultural sector in Lebanon is responsible for 3.56% of national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The main GHG emissions from this sector are N₂O and CH₄ generated mainly from agricultural soils, manure management and enteric fermentation. The direct soil emissions are considered the major source of emissions from the sector (26%). More details available in the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory and Mitigation Analysis report for the Agriculture Sector.

Mitigation Measures:

The relatively small scale of agricultural activities in Lebanon categorizes this sector as a low contributor to national GHG emissions. Nonetheless, to mitigation options are proposed to reduce GHG emissions from agriculture soils (55% of the total sector emissions) - Conservation Agriculture (CA) and Fertilizer Best Management Practices (FBMP) through fertigation and drip irrigation. More details available in the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory and Mitigation Analysis report for the Agriculture Sector.

Impacts of Climate Change on Agriculture:

Agriculture in Lebanon is one of the most vulnerable sectors to climate change due to the limited availability of water and land resources and the pressure exerted by population growth and urbanization.

Higher temperature, reduced precipitation and high evapotranspiration will decrease soil moisture and increase aridity thus affecting the overall agricultural yield of crops. Lebanese agriculture may indeed experience a decrease in productivity for most of the crops and fruit trees targeting mostly wheat, tomatoes, cherries, apples, olives and grapes.

Adaptation Measures and Technologies:

Many adaptation measures, such as the adoption of more drought and heat-resistant species, change planting dates and cropping patterns can reduce the impacts of climate change and increase the resilience of the agricultural sector. Adaptation technologies in most cases are a combination of hard and soft technologies. Conservation agriculture, good agricultural practices and range of adapted varieties and rootstocks have been selected as priority adaptation technologies in Lebanon based on their economic viability (capital and operational cost, importance of economic impact), environmental reliability (improvement of resilience to climate change and technology suitability and capability) and social readiness (human and information requirement, social suitability for Lebanon). As a result, agricultural revenues can be increased by USD 119 million by shifting to conservation agriculture, planting heat and water resistant crop and adopting good agricultural practices, in addition to protecting the livelihoods of thousands of families that rely on agriculture as a source of living.