Sierra Leone's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Agricultural Emissions Dominate
Sierra Leone's N2O emissions have been predominantly driven by agriculture, which has consistently been the largest contributor over the decades. The expansion of rice cultivation in the 1980s significantly increased emissions, as rice paddies are known for releasing nitrous oxide. This trend continued into the 21st century, with agriculture accounting for a substantial portion of the country's total N2O emissions. Notably, the early 2000s saw a sharp increase in agricultural emissions, peaking in 2006, which aligns with post-civil war reconstruction efforts that likely spurred agricultural activities.
Energy Sector's Modest Impact
The energy sector has played a relatively minor role in Sierra Leone's N2O emissions. Despite the discovery of offshore oil in the 1970s, energy-related emissions have remained low. The completion of the Bumbuna Hydroelectric Dam in 2009 marked a shift towards renewable energy, potentially curbing emissions from fossil fuels. This transition was further supported by the introduction of renewable energy projects in 2017, which aimed to reduce the country's reliance on traditional energy sources.
Minimal Industrial and Waste Contributions
Industrial emissions have been negligible throughout Sierra Leone's history, reflecting the country's limited industrial activities. Similarly, waste-related emissions have remained low, with only slight increases over the decades. The country's focus on agriculture and energy, rather than industrialization, has kept these sectors' contributions to N2O emissions minimal.
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.