Honduras' Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Agricultural Dominance in Emissions
Honduras has seen a significant rise in nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions over the decades, primarily driven by agricultural activities. Since the late 19th century, the expansion of banana plantations marked the beginning of increased emissions due to deforestation and land-use changes. By the mid-20th century, agriculture accounted for the majority of N2O emissions, a trend that has continued into the 21st century. The data shows that agriculture consistently contributes the largest share of emissions, with notable increases in the early 2000s and 2020.
Energy and Waste Contributions
While agriculture remains the dominant source, emissions from the energy and waste sectors have also shown gradual increases. The energy sector, although a smaller contributor, has seen a steady rise in emissions, particularly noticeable in the 21st century. This increase aligns with the expansion of industrial activities and energy consumption. Waste management practices have also contributed to emissions, albeit to a lesser extent, with a gradual upward trend over the decades.
Impact of Recent Events
Recent events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, temporarily impacted emissions. The pandemic led to reduced economic activity, which likely contributed to a decrease in emissions from industrial and transportation sectors. However, the overall trend in Honduras remains an upward trajectory in N2O emissions, driven by ongoing agricultural practices and energy consumption. The country's efforts in renewable energy initiatives in 2016 may help mitigate future emissions, but the impact is yet to be fully realized in the data.
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.