Afghanistan's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Agricultural Dominance in Emissions
Throughout the decades, Afghanistan's N₂O emissions have been predominantly driven by agriculture. The use of nitrogen-based fertilizers has significantly contributed to these emissions, with agriculture consistently accounting for the vast majority of the country's N₂O output. Notably, the Helmand Valley Project in 1967 marked a pivotal moment, expanding irrigation and farming, which likely spurred an increase in N₂O emissions due to intensified agricultural practices.
Impact of Conflict and Reconstruction
Periods of conflict, such as the Soviet invasion in 1979 and the US-led invasion in 2001, have disrupted agricultural activities, leading to fluctuations in emissions. The Soviet invasion, in particular, caused significant land degradation, impacting both CO₂ and N₂O emissions. Post-2001 reconstruction efforts, while increasing CO₂ emissions from infrastructure development, also influenced N₂O emissions through renewed agricultural activities.
Recent Trends and Uncertainties
In recent years, the expansion of opium cultivation around 2010 has further contributed to N₂O emissions due to increased fertilizer use. The withdrawal of NATO forces in 2014 and the subsequent political changes have introduced uncertainties in emission trends. While military-related emissions have decreased, deforestation for fuel and construction has potentially offset these reductions, maintaining a complex emissions landscape in Afghanistan.
Background
The chart shows a national breakdown by source of the yearly nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from human activities and processes, expressed as weight in megatonnes (Mt). Human-induced emissions are the main driver of the increasing atmospheric nitrous oxide that is warming our planet. The sources of human nitrous oxide emissions are
- Agriculture
- Energy
- Industry
- Waste
- Other
Agriculture
Emissions related to agriculture are mainly from the use of synthetic fertilizers and manure management.
Synthetic fertilizer, used for agricultural processes, contains a lot of nitrogen. That nitrogen in the soil reacts and causes considerable N2O emissions. The use of excess fertilizer, meaning more fertilizer than the plants can use to grow, causes even higher relative emissions. Applying the right amount of fertilizer at the right time can reduce N2O emissions. There are many technical solutions to reduce emissions while keeping, or even increasing, agricultural yields.
When manure is left on the field or otherwise managed in dry processes, it emits considerable amounts of nitrous oxide. Manure can be managed by wet processes, which reduces nitrous oxide emissions but increases methane emissions. Some technical solutions focus on modifying the animal feed to reduce the nitrogen in the manure, thereby reducing nitrous oxide emissions.
Energy, Industry, Waste, and Other
All non-agricultural categories together have much lower emissions than agricultural emissions alone.
N2O emissions related to energy are almost all from the combustion of fossil fuels. For example, the combustion of fossil fuels in power plants, cars, and airplanes not only causes CO2 emissions but also emits nitrous oxide (N2O). Any advances to reducing fossil fuel dependency will thus also reduce nitrous oxide emissions.
Most industry-related emissions are from the chemical industry for producing fertilizer, nylon, and similar products. Technologies are available to reduce emissions in these processes.
Nitrous oxide emissions from waste come from, for example, wastewater treatment and landfills.
Wikipedia: Nitrous oxideIPCC: AR6, 5.16 Anthropogenic nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions
Units and Measures
N2O emissions are expressed in the total weight in megatonnes per year. 1 Megatonne is equal to 1 million tonnes.
Wikipedia: MegatonneWikipedia: Global warming potential
About the Data
The last available year in all the emission datasets is 2023. N2O emissions come from the PRIMAP-Hist dataset. It is a rich dataset that combines several published sources to create a historical emissions time series for various greenhouse gases.
The Key Insights paragraph was generated using a large language model (LLM) using a structured approach to improve the accuracy. This included separating the context generation from the interpretation and narrative.
Data Sources
PRIMAP-hist The PRIMAP-hist national historical emissions time series (1750-2023)
Update cycle: Every few monthsDelay: Less than 1 yearCredits: Gütschow, Johannes; Busch, Daniel; Pflüger, Mika (2024): The PRIMAP-hist national historical emissions time series (1750-2023) v2.6. Zenodo.