Liberia's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Agricultural Emissions Dominate
Throughout the decades, Liberia's nitrous oxide emissions have been predominantly driven by agricultural activities. This sector has consistently contributed the largest share of emissions, reflecting the country's reliance on agriculture. Notably, the 2000s saw a significant increase in agricultural emissions, which then slightly decreased in the following decade. This fluctuation could be linked to the end of the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003, which allowed for the resumption of agricultural activities.
Energy Sector's Growing Influence
While agriculture remains the primary source of nitrous oxide emissions, the energy sector has shown a notable upward trend. Starting from negligible levels in the early 20th century, emissions from energy have steadily increased, particularly from the 1990s onwards. This rise coincides with post-war reconstruction efforts and increased industrial activity following the end of the civil wars, highlighting the sector's growing role in Liberia's emissions profile.
Impact of Other Sources
Emissions from waste and other sources have also contributed to Liberia's overall nitrous oxide emissions, albeit to a lesser extent. The waste sector experienced a gradual increase, reflecting challenges in waste management, especially during and after the civil wars. Other sources, while minor, have shown variability, with notable increases in the 1980s and 1990s, possibly linked to changes in land use and urbanization during these periods.
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.