Sao Tome and Principe's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Early Agricultural Emissions
In the early 20th century, São Tomé and Príncipe's agricultural sector began contributing to N₂O emissions, primarily from cocoa plantations. The introduction of cocoa plantations in the mid-19th century and their peak production by 1908 led to significant land-use changes, which likely increased CO₂ emissions. However, N₂O emissions from agriculture remained minimal until the mid-20th century.
Post-Independence Changes
Following independence in 1975, São Tomé and Príncipe experienced economic and social shifts that influenced land use and agricultural practices. This period saw a gradual increase in N₂O emissions from agriculture, with notable fluctuations in the 1970s and 1980s. The introduction of livestock farming in 1990 further contributed to greenhouse gas emissions, although the primary impact was on methane rather than N₂O.
Recent Trends and Initiatives
In recent decades, São Tomé and Príncipe's N₂O emissions have shown a steady increase, particularly from agriculture and energy sectors. The expansion of palm oil plantations around 2010 contributed to land-use changes and emissions. However, the country has also taken steps to mitigate emissions, such as launching sustainable agriculture programs in 2020 to reduce N₂O emissions from traditional farming practices. These initiatives aim to improve soil management and reduce synthetic fertilizer use, potentially curbing future emissions growth.
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.