Soil Greenhouse Gas Emissions under Different Land-Use Types in Savanna Ecosystems of Kenya

Abstract. For effective climate change mitigation strategies, adequate data on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from a wide range of land-use and land cover types area prerequisite. However, GHG field measurement data are still scarce for many land-use types in Africa, causing a high uncertainty in GHG budgets. To address this knowledge gap, we present in situ measurements of carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), and methane (CH4) emissions in the lowland part of southern Kenya. We conducted chamber measurements on gas exchange from four dominant land-use types (LUTs) and included (1) cropland, (2) grazed savanna, (3) bushland, and (4) conservation land. Between 29 November 2017 to 3 November 2018, eight measurement campaigns were conducted accounting for regional seasonality (including wet and dry seasons and transitions periods) in each LUT. Mean CO2 emissions for the whole observation period were significantly higher (p-value

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NDCmitiQ v1.0.0: a tool to quantify and analyse greenhouse gas mitigation targets

Geoscientific Model Development ◽

10.5194/gmd-14-5695-2021 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (9) ◽

pp. 5695-5730

Author(s):

Annika Günther ◽

Johannes Gütschow ◽

Mairi Louise Jeffery

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Greenhouse Gas ◽

Ghg Emissions ◽

Global Scale ◽

Greenhouse Gas Mitigation ◽

Ghg Mitigation ◽

Data Set ◽

Wide Range ◽

The Usa ◽

External Time

Abstract. Parties to the Paris Agreement (PA, 2015) outline their planned contributions towards achieving the PA temperature goal to “hold […] the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 ∘C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 ∘C” (Article 2.1.a, PA) in their nationally determined contributions (NDCs). Most NDCs include targets to mitigate national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which need quantifications to assess i.a. whether the current NDCs collectively put us on track to reach the PA temperature goals or the gap in ambition to do so. We implemented the new open-source tool “NDCmitiQ” to quantify GHG mitigation targets defined in the NDCs for all countries with quantifiable targets on a disaggregated level and to create corresponding national and global emissions pathways. In light of the 5-year update cycle of NDCs and the global stocktake, the quantification of NDCs is an ongoing task for which NDCmitiQ can be used, as calculations can easily be updated upon submission of new NDCs. In this paper, we describe the methodologies behind NDCmitiQ and quantification challenges we encountered by addressing a wide range of aspects, including target types and the input data from within NDCs; external time series of national emissions, population, and GDP; uniform approach vs. country specifics; share of national emissions covered by NDCs; how to deal with the Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) component and the conditionality of pledges; and establishing pathways from single-year targets. For use in NDCmitiQ, we furthermore construct an emissions data set from the baseline emissions provided in the NDCs. Example use cases show how the tool can help to analyse targets on a national, regional, or global scale and to quantify uncertainties caused by a lack of clarity in the NDCs. Results confirm that the conditionality of targets and assumptions about economic growth dominate uncertainty in mitigated emissions on a global scale, which are estimated as 48.9–56.1 Gt CO2 eq. AR4 for 2030 (10th/90th percentiles, median: 51.8 Gt CO2 eq. AR4; excluding LULUCF and bunker fuels; submissions until 17 April 2020 and excluding the USA). We estimate that 77 % of global 2017 emissions were emitted from sectors and gases covered by these NDCs. Addressing all updated NDCs submitted by 31 December 2020 results in an estimated 45.6–54.1 Gt CO2 eq. AR4 (median: 49.6 Gt CO2 eq. AR4, now including the USA again) and increased coverage.

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Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Carbon Sinks of an Italian Natural Park

Frontiers in Environmental Science ◽

10.3389/fenvs.2021.706880 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

Author(s):

Giampiero Grossi ◽

Andrea Vitali ◽

Umberto Bernabucci ◽

Nicola Lacetera ◽

Alessandro Nardone

Keyword(s):

Greenhouse Gas ◽

Methodological Approach ◽

Ghg Emissions ◽

International Standards ◽

Mitigation Strategies ◽

The Other ◽

Biogeochemical Model ◽

Primary Role ◽

Mitigation And Adaptation ◽

Wide Range

Natural parks (NPs) have a primary role in supporting people’s welfare by maintaining natural and cultural resources. Various activities, such as those related to conservation of flora and fauna, forestry, agriculture and livestock, residential, and tourism, coexist within the boundaries of NPs. All these activities may contribute as a source or sink of carbon dioxide and, despite some NPs having started to promote their environmental services, there is currently a lack of information on their carbon footprint (CF). Although various international standards have provided guidelines to assess the CF of organizations, a lack of explicit formulation and procedure in these standards makes them difficult to apply, especially when the organizations to be evaluated embed a wide range of biological and anthropogenic activities. The framework proposed in this paper provides for the first time a holistic methodological approach to quantitatively and qualitatively estimate the annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and removals occurring in NPs. The main data needed for the NP’s GHG inventory were directly collected on-site. The activity data and emissions factors as well as the methodologies involved were all referenced to their data sources, including the use of a biogeochemical model, IPCC equations, Ecoinvent database, and a literature review. This method highlighted that, by emitting 0.55 Mg CO2e ha−1 year−1, the NP generates an annual CF of about 3,300 Mg of CO2e. The agricultural activities with 43.4% of share showed the largest incidence, followed by wild fauna (17.8%), tourism (15.1%), and, to a lesser extent, all the other sectors considered in the assessment. On the other hand, when the annual soil and forest C sequestration rates were included in the balance, the NP contributes to sequester about 3.7 Mg CO2e ha−1 year−1, thus resulting in it being an important C-sink site (i.e., about 22,000 Mg CO2e year−1). By providing granular information on GHG emissions and carbon removals trend, the methodological approach involved in this study could help NPs in both planning effective mitigation strategies and supporting environmental certification processes. CF of NPs could increase tourists’ awareness of the important role that these protected natural areas have in climate change mitigation and adaptation.

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LAND-USE CHANGE AND GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS IN THE FAPRI-CARD MODEL SYSTEM: ADDRESSING BIAS AND UNCERTAINTY

Climate Change Economics ◽

10.1142/s2010007812500145 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 03 (03) ◽

pp. 1250014 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

AMANI E. ELOBEID ◽

MIGUEL A. CARRIQUIRY ◽

JACINTO F. FABIOSA

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Land Use Change ◽

Greenhouse Gas ◽

Agricultural Sector ◽

Ghg Emissions ◽

Primary Concern ◽

Wide Range ◽

Viable Approach ◽

The Many ◽

The Impact

Even with a normalized and standardized biofuel shock, the wide range of land-use change estimates and their associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have raised concern on the adequacy of existing agricultural models in this new area of analysis. In particular, reducing bias and improving precision of impact estimates are of primary concern to policy makers. This paper provides a detailed overview of the FAPRI-CARD agricultural modeling system, with particular emphasis on the modifications recently introduced to reduce bias in the results. We illustrate the impact of these new model features using the example of the new yield specification that now includes updated trend parameter, intensification and extensification effects, and a spatially disaggregated Brazil specification. The paper also provides a taxonomy of the many types of uncertainty surrounding any analysis, including parameter-coefficient uncertainty and exogenous variable uncertainty, identifying where specific types of uncertainty originate, and how they interact. Finally, FAPRI-CARD's long experience in using stochastic analysis is presented as a viable approach in addressing uncertainty in the analysis of changes in the agricultural sector, associated land-use change, and impacts on GHG emissions.

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Mitigation Strategies for Reduction of Embodied Energy and Carbon, in the Construction Systems of Contemporary Quality Architecture

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11143806 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (14) ◽

pp. 3806 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Enrico Sicignano ◽

Giacomo Di Ruocco ◽

Roberta Melella

Keyword(s):

Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽

Greenhouse Gas ◽

Environmental Sustainability ◽

Building Materials ◽

Ghg Emissions ◽

Mitigation Strategies ◽

Embodied Energy ◽

Design Strategies ◽

Gas Emissions ◽

Wide Range

The criticality related to the consumption of operational energy and related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of existing buildings is clearly decreasing in new buildings due to the strategies tested and applied in recent years in the energy retrofit sector. Recently, studies have been focusing on strategies to reduce environmental impacts related to the entire life cycle of the building organism, with reference to the reduction of embodied energy (and related greenhouse gas emissions) in building materials. As part of EEA’s European EBC project, Annex 57, a wide range of case studies have been promoted with the aim of identifying design strategies that can reduce the embodied energy and related greenhouse gas emissions of buildings. The aim of this paper is to investigate the most common construction systems in the construction industry (concrete, steel, wood) through the analysis of three contemporary architectural works, with the aim of identifying the predisposition for environmental sustainability of each technological system, thus guiding the operators in the sector towards design choices more compatible with the environmental requirements recommended by European legislation.

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US Forest Sector Greenhouse Mitigation Potential and Implications for Nationally Determined Contributions

10.3768/rtipress.2017.op.0033.1705 ◽

2017 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Christina Van Winkle ◽

Justin S. Baker ◽

Daniel Lapidus ◽

Sara Ohrel ◽

John Steller ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Greenhouse Gas ◽

Ghg Emissions ◽

The United States ◽

Mitigation Strategies ◽

Forest Sector ◽

Private Lands ◽

Mitigation Potential ◽

Analytical Work ◽

Nationally Determined Contributions

Countries globally are committing to achieve future greenhouse gas emissions reductions to address our changing climate, as outlined in the Paris Agreement from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties. These commitments, called nationally determined contributions (NDCs), are based on projected anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions levels across all sectors of the economy, including land use, land use change, and forestry (LULUCF) activities. Projecting LULUCF emissions is uniquely challenging, and the uncertainty of future LULUCF emissions could require additional mitigation efforts in the land use sectors to reduce the risk of NDC noncompliance. The objectives of this paper are to provide critical information on what forest sector mitigation activities are currently underway in the United States on private lands, review recent literature estimates of the mitigation potential from these activities (and associated economic costs), identify gaps in the literature where additional analytical work is needed, and provide recommendations for targeted mitigation strategies should US emissions approach or exceed targeted post-2020 NDC levels.

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Greenhouse gas mitigation options in Brazil for land-use change, livestock and agriculture

Scientia Agricola ◽

10.1590/s0103-90162010000100015 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 67 (1) ◽

pp. 102-116 ◽

Cited By ~ 43

Author(s):

Carlos Clemente Cerri ◽

Martial Bernoux ◽

Stoecio Malta Ferreira Maia ◽

Carlos Eduardo Pellegrino Cerri ◽

Ciniro Costa Junior ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Land Use Change ◽

Greenhouse Gas ◽

Ghg Emissions ◽

Mitigation Strategies ◽

Greenhouse Gas Mitigation ◽

Mitigation Option ◽

Mitigation Options ◽

Option Values ◽

Business As Usual

National inventories of anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (implementation of the National Communications) are organized according to five main sectors, namely: Energy, Industrial Processes, Agriculture, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LUCF) and Waste. The objective of this study was to review and calculate the potential of greenhouse gas mitigation strategies in Brazil for the Agricultural and LUCF. The first step consisted in an analysis of Brazilian official and unofficial documents related to climate change and mitigation policies. Secondly, business as usual (BAU) and mitigation scenarios were elaborated for the 2010-2020 timeframe, and calculations of the corresponding associated GHG emissions and removals were performed. Additionally, two complementary approaches were used to point out and quantify the main mitigation options: a) following the IPCC 1996 guidelines and b) based on EX-ACT. Brazilian authorities announced that the country will target a reduction in its GHG between 36.1 and 38.9% from projected 2020 levels. This is a positive stand that should also be adopted by other developing countries. To reach this government goal, agriculture and livestock sectors must contribute with an emission reduction of 133 to 166 Mt CO2-eq. This seems to be reachable when confronted to our mitigation option values, which are in between the range of 178.3 to 445 Mt CO2-eq. Government investments on agriculture are necessary to minimize the efforts from the sectors to reach their targets.

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Greenhouse gas emissions from the water–air interface of a grassland river: a case study of the Xilin River

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-81658-x ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Xue Hao ◽

Yu Ruihong ◽

Zhang Zhuangzhuang ◽

Qi Zhen ◽

Lu Xixi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Carbon Dioxide ◽

Land Use ◽

Nitrous Oxide ◽

Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽

Greenhouse Gas ◽

Ghg Emissions ◽

Nitrous Oxide Emissions ◽

Gas Emissions ◽

Sand Land ◽

Very High

AbstractGreenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from rivers and lakes have been shown to significantly contribute to global carbon and nitrogen cycling. In spatiotemporal-variable and human-impacted rivers in the grassland region, simultaneous carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide emissions and their relationships under the different land use types are poorly documented. This research estimated greenhouse gas (CO2, CH4, N2O) emissions in the Xilin River of Inner Mongolia of China using direct measurements from 18 field campaigns under seven land use type (such as swamp, sand land, grassland, pond, reservoir, lake, waste water) conducted in 2018. The results showed that CO2 emissions were higher in June and August, mainly affected by pH and DO. Emissions of CH4 and N2O were higher in October, which were influenced by TN and TP. According to global warming potential, CO2 emissions accounted for 63.35% of the three GHG emissions, and CH4 and N2O emissions accounted for 35.98% and 0.66% in the Xilin river, respectively. Under the influence of different degrees of human-impact, the amount of CO2 emissions in the sand land type was very high, however, CH4 emissions and N2O emissions were very high in the artificial pond and the wastewater, respectively. For natural river, the greenhouse gas emissions from the reservoir and sand land were both low. The Xilin river was observed to be a source of carbon dioxide and methane, and the lake was a sink for nitrous oxide.

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Effects of strategic tillage on short-term erosion, nutrient loss in runoff and greenhouse gas emissions

Soil Research ◽

10.1071/sr16136 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 55 (3) ◽

pp. 201 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

A. R. Melland ◽

D. L. Antille ◽

Y. P. Dang

Keyword(s):

Nitrous Oxide ◽

Greenhouse Gas ◽

Heavy Rainfall ◽

Ghg Emissions ◽

Nutrient Loss ◽

Nitrous Oxide Emissions ◽

Nutrient Losses ◽

Short Term ◽

Trade Offs ◽

Carbon Dioxide Co2

Occasional strategic tillage (ST) of long-term no-tillage (NT) soil to help control weeds may increase the risk of water, erosion and nutrient losses in runoff and of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared with NT soil. The present study examined the short-term effect of ST on runoff and GHG emissions in NT soils under controlled-traffic farming regimes. A rainfall simulator was used to generate runoff from heavy rainfall (70mmh–1) on small plots of NT and ST on a Vertosol, Dermosol and Sodosol. Nitrous oxide (N2O), carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) fluxes from the Vertosol and Sodosol were measured before and after the rain using passive chambers. On the Sodosol and Dermosol there was 30% and 70% more runoff, respectively, from ST plots than from NT plots, however, volumes were similar between tillage treatments on the Vertosol. Erosion was highest after ST on the Sodosol (8.3tha–1 suspended sediment) and there were no treatment differences on the other soils. Total nitrogen (N) loads in runoff followed a similar pattern, with 10.2kgha–1 in runoff from the ST treatment on the Sodosol. Total phosphorus loads were higher after ST than NT on both the Sodosol (3.1 and 0.9kgha–1, respectively) and the Dermosol (1.0 and 0.3kgha–1, respectively). Dissolved nutrient forms comprised less than 13% of total losses. Nitrous oxide emissions were low from both NT and ST in these low-input systems. However, ST decreased CH4 absorption from both soils and almost doubled CO2 emissions from the Sodosol. Strategic tillage may increase the susceptibility of Sodosols and Dermosols to water, sediment and nutrient losses in runoff after heavy rainfall. The trade-offs between weed control, erosion and GHG emissions should be considered as part of any tillage strategy.

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Remotely sensed temperature is a proxy of greenhouse gas emissions in intact and managed peatlands

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-4474 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Ain Kull ◽

Iuliia Burdun ◽

Gert Veber ◽

Oleksandr Karasov ◽

Martin Maddison ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Soil Temperature ◽

Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽

Greenhouse Gas ◽

Water Table ◽

Ecosystem Respiration ◽

Ghg Emissions ◽

Remotely Sensed ◽

Water Table Depth ◽

Gas Emissions

Besides water table depth, soil temperature is one of the main drivers of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in intact and managed peatlands. In this work, we evaluate the performance of remotely sensed land surface temperature (LST) as a proxy of greenhouse gas emissions in intact, drained and extracted peatlands. For this, we used chamber-measured carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) data from seven peatlands in Estonia collected during vegetation season in 2017&#8211;2020. Additionally, we used temperature and water table depth data measured in situ. We studied relationships between CO2, CH4, in-situ parameters and remotely sensed LST from Landsat 7 and 8, and MODIS Terra. Results of our study suggest that LST has stronger relationships with surface and soil temperature as well as with ecosystem respiration (Reco) over drained and extracted sites than over intact ones. Over the extracted cites the correlation between Reco CO2 and LST is 0.7, and over the drained sites correlation is 0.5. In natural sites, we revealed a moderate positive relationship between LST and CO2 emitted in hollows (correlation is 0.6) while it is weak in hummocks (correlation is 0.3). Our study contributes to the better understanding of relationships between greenhouse gas emissions and their remotely sensed proxies over peatlands with different management status and enables better spatial assessment of GHG emissions in drainage affected northern temperate peatlands.

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Greenhouse gas emissions profiles of neighbourhoods in Durban, South Africa – an initial investigation

Environment and Urbanization ◽

10.1177/0956247817713471 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 30 (1) ◽

pp. 191-214 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Meryl Jagarnath ◽

Tirusha Thambiran

Keyword(s):

Greenhouse Gas ◽

Ghg Emissions ◽

Mitigation Strategies ◽

Low Carbon ◽

Economic Activities ◽

Emissions Inventory ◽

High Emission ◽

Development Goals ◽

Reduce Emissions ◽

The City

Because current emissions accounting approaches focus on an entire city, cities are often considered to be large emitters of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, with no attention to the variation within them. This makes it more difficult to identify climate change mitigation strategies that can simultaneously reduce emissions and address place-specific development challenges. In response to this gap, a bottom-up emissions inventory study was undertaken to identify high emission zones and development goals for the Durban metropolitan area (eThekwini Municipality). The study is the first attempt at creating a spatially disaggregated emissions inventory for key sectors in Durban. The results indicate that particular groups and economic activities are responsible for more emissions, and socio-spatial development and emission inequalities are found both within the city and within the high emission zone. This is valuable information for the municipality in tailoring mitigation efforts to reduce emissions and address development gaps for low-carbon spatial planning whilst contributing to objectives for social justice.

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