Senegal's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Agricultural Dominance and Growth
Senegal's N₂O emissions have been predominantly driven by agriculture, which has consistently been the largest contributor over the decades. The post-World War II groundnut production boom significantly increased emissions due to the extensive use of nitrogen-based fertilizers. This trend continued with the agricultural modernization programs in the 1980s, further boosting emissions from agricultural soils. The expansion of rice cultivation in 2019 also contributed to this upward trend, highlighting agriculture's central role in Senegal's emissions profile.
Energy Sector Shifts
The energy sector in Senegal has seen notable changes, particularly with the introduction of natural gas in 2005 and subsequent gas-to-power projects in 2022. These developments aimed to diversify the energy mix and reduce reliance on traditional biomass. While these shifts have increased CO₂ emissions, they offer a cleaner alternative to coal or oil. The energy sector reforms in the 1990s also played a role in shaping the emissions landscape, as the country transitioned towards more modern energy sources.
Impact of Economic and Environmental Events
Significant events, such as the droughts of the 1970s and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, have influenced emissions patterns. The droughts led to land degradation, while the pandemic temporarily reduced emissions due to economic slowdowns. The Plan for an Emerging Senegal, launched in 2016, aimed to boost economic growth but also necessitated careful management of emissions to ensure sustainable development. These events underscore the complex interplay between economic activities and environmental impacts in shaping Senegal's emissions history.
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.