Suriname's Sources of N2O Emissions
Key Insights
Agricultural Emissions Dominate
Suriname's N2O emissions have been predominantly driven by agriculture, particularly since the mid-20th century. The expansion of rice cultivation around 1950 significantly contributed to this trend, as rice paddies are known for releasing nitrous oxide. By the 1980s, agricultural emissions accounted for a substantial portion of the country's total N2O emissions. Despite fluctuations, agriculture remains the leading source of N2O emissions in Suriname, reflecting the country's reliance on agricultural practices.
Energy Sector's Growing Influence
The energy sector in Suriname has seen a notable increase in N2O emissions, especially from the 2000s onwards. This rise coincides with the introduction of natural gas in 2005 and the expansion of oil exploration and production around 2015. These developments have contributed to a shift in the country's energy mix, leading to increased emissions from fossil fuel use. The energy sector's growing influence is evident in the rising percentage of total N2O emissions attributed to energy-related activities.
Impact of Industrial and Waste Emissions
While industrial N2O emissions have remained negligible, waste-related emissions have shown a gradual increase over the decades. The construction of the Afobaka Dam in 1964 and subsequent industrial activities likely contributed to this trend. However, the overall impact of waste emissions remains relatively minor compared to agriculture and energy. Suriname's focus on forest conservation initiatives since 1992 has helped mitigate some emissions, but the challenge of balancing economic growth with environmental sustainability persists.
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.