Record Details

A new index on agricultural land greenhouse gas emissions in Africa

CGSpace

View Archive Info
 
 
Field Value
 
Title A new index on agricultural land greenhouse gas emissions in Africa
 
Creator Epule, T. E.
Chehbouni, Abdelghani
Ongoma, V.
Brouziyne, Youssef
Etongo, D.
Molua, Ernest L.
 
Subject greenhouse gas emissions
agricultural land
carbon dioxide
methane emission
nitrous oxide
climate change adaptation
climate change mitigation
vulnerability
spatial distribution
time series analysis
pollution
 
Description Africa emits the lowest amounts of greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the global GHG budget. However, the continent remains the most vulnerable continent to the effects of climate change. The agricultural sector in Africa is among the most vulnerable sectors to climate change. Also, as a dominant agricultural sector, African agriculture is increasingly contributing to climate change through GHG emissions. Research has so far focused on the effects of GHG emissions on the agricultural and other sectors with very little emphasis on monitoring and quantifying the spatial distribution of GHG emissions from agricultural land in Africa. This study develops a new index: African Agricultural Land Greenhouse Gas Index (AALGGI) that uses scores and specific scale ranges for carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) to map the spatial variations in regional GHG emissions across Africa. The data for the three main GHGs (CO2, CH4, and N20) were downloaded from FAOSTAT. The data were analyzed through the newly developed African Agricultural Land Greenhouse Gas Index (AALGGI). This is an empirical index with scores ranging from 0 to 10, with higher scores indicating higher levels of emissions. The results show that Southern and North African regions have the lowest amounts of agricultural land GHG emissions, with AALGGIs of 3.5 and 4.5, respectively. East Africa records the highest levels of GHG emissions, with an AALGGI of 8 followed by West Africa with an AALGGI of 7.5. With the continental mean or baseline AALGGI being 5.8, East and Middle Africa are above the mean AALGGI. These results underscore the fact that though Africa, in general, is not a heavy emitter of GHGs, African agricultural lands are increasingly emitting more GHGs into the global GHG budget. The low AALGGIs in the more developed parts of Africa such as Southern and North Africa are explained by their domination in other GHG emitting sectors such as industrialization and energy. The high rates of emissions in East Africa and Middle Africa are mainly linked to intensive traditional farming practices/processes and deforestation. These findings underscore the need to further leverage climate change mitigation actions and policy in Africa and most importantly the co-benefits of mitigation and adaptations in the most vulnerable regions.
 
Date 2022-09
2022-09-16T10:02:37Z
2022-09-16T10:02:37Z
 
Type Journal Article
 
Identifier Epule, T. E.; Chehbouni, A.; Ongoma, V.; Brouziyne, Youssef; Etongo, D.; Molua, E. L. 2022. A new index on agricultural land greenhouse gas emissions in Africa. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 194(9):598. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-022-10196-4]
0167-6369
https://hdl.handle.net/10568/121893
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H051387.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-022-10196-4
H051387
 
Language en
 
Rights Copyrighted; all rights reserved
Limited Access
 
Format 194(9):598
 
Publisher Springer Science and Business Media LLC
 
Source Environmental Monitoring and Assessment