Gambia's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Agricultural Dominance in Emissions
Throughout the decades, Gambia's N2O emissions have been predominantly driven by agricultural activities. From the mid-19th century, agriculture has consistently been the largest contributor to the country's N2O emissions. The expansion of groundnut production in the 1970s further intensified this trend, as land clearing and cultivation increased emissions. Despite fluctuations, agriculture remains the primary source of N2O emissions, accounting for a significant portion of the total emissions in recent decades.
Energy and Waste Contributions
While agriculture has been the mainstay, emissions from energy and waste sectors have gradually increased over time. The introduction of rice cultivation projects in the early 2000s and renewable energy initiatives in the 2010s have contributed to these sectors' emissions. Although their impact remains smaller compared to agriculture, these sectors have shown a steady rise in their share of total emissions, reflecting Gambia's evolving energy and waste management practices.
Recent Trends and Political Influence
In recent years, political transitions and economic reforms have influenced Gambia's emission patterns. The peaceful political transition in 2017 and subsequent economic reforms aimed at sustainable development have had a modest impact on emissions. These efforts, coupled with the temporary effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, have led to slight variations in emission trends, highlighting the interplay between policy changes and environmental outcomes.
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.