A key component of MARVIC’s work towards building trust around carbon farming and supporting the implementation of Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) systems is to understand the needs and barriers of different sectors, and include them in the project’s framework. In this context, MARVIC has set up a series of End-User Forums, where the project experts interact with diverse stakeholders to bring their insights and ensure that MARVIC outcomes are user-centred and capable of being upscaled. Now, two of these Forums have delivered their first public reports.
The Climate Advocacy Forum, led by Suzanne Reynders and Cloé Paul-Victor (INRAE), follows a structured interview process with a diverse group of stakeholders, including representatives from research organisations, NGOs, and international networks across France, Canada, and Africa. The discussions revolved around four key pillars: carbon markets, MRV methods, soil measurements, and the Carbon Removals and Carbon Farming (CRCF) Regulation.
The interviews pointed to significant knowledge gaps across different stakeholder groups, such as the low level of awareness of carbon markets and policy regulations among academic researchers. In turn, farmers often lack a clear understanding of the differences between insetting and offsetting, and how they might benefit from each.
In addition, the discussions identified critical obstacles to MRV implementation, ranging from a lack of standardisation in monitoring methods and soil sampling to scientific constraints and insufficient funding for the long-term experimental sites needed to validate models. The need to complement remote sensing with field measurements also emerged as a point of consensus, while challenges related to scaling, cost management, calibration, accuracy, monitoring and data gaps were highlighted.
Find more details on these and other insights in the full report, and check the outcomes of the Market Forum here. The work of these Forums will continue in the coming months, with a final report expected by the end of the project.
