Maldives' Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Tourism and Emissions Growth
The Maldives' journey with anthropogenic N2O emissions began to take shape with the initiation of its tourism industry in the early 1970s. The development of infrastructure to support this burgeoning sector, including resorts and airports, led to increased energy consumption, primarily from fossil fuels. This growth in tourism significantly contributed to the rise in CO₂ emissions, marking the beginning of a trend that would continue in subsequent decades.
Impact of Natural Disasters
The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami had a profound impact on the Maldives, causing widespread destruction and necessitating extensive reconstruction efforts. This period saw a temporary spike in emissions due to the energy-intensive rebuilding process. The need for construction materials and energy, largely derived from fossil fuels, contributed to this increase. However, the impact was short-lived, as the focus shifted towards recovery and rebuilding.
Commitment to Carbon Neutrality
In 2008, the Maldives made a bold pledge to achieve carbon neutrality by 2020. This commitment spurred investments in renewable energy and efforts to reduce fossil fuel dependency. While the initial phase of this transition may have temporarily increased emissions due to infrastructure development, the long-term goal was a significant reduction in the nation's carbon footprint. The reforms in waste management in 2015 further supported this goal, aiming to reduce methane emissions and contribute to the overall emissions reduction strategy.
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.