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Agricultural Soil Greenhouse Gas Emissions

A Review of National Inventory Methods

Department of Soil and Crop Sciences and Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523

^* Corresponding author (elokupit{at}nrel.colostate.edu)

Received for publication May 1, 2005. Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are required to submit national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories, together with information on methods used in estimating their emissions. Currently agricultural activities contribute a significant portion (approximately 20%) of global anthropogenic GHG emissions, and agricultural soils have been identified as one of the main GHG source categories within the agricultural sector. However, compared to many other GHG sources, inventory methods for soils are relatively more complex and have been implemented only to varying degrees among member countries. This review summarizes and evaluates the methods used by Annex 1 countries in estimating CO₂ and N₂O emissions in agricultural soils. While most countries utilize the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) default methodology, several Annex 1 countries are developing more advanced methods that are tailored for specific country circumstances. Based on the latest national inventory reporting, about 56% of the Annex 1 countries use IPCC Tier 1 methods, about 26% use Tier 2 methods, and about 18% do not estimate or report N₂O emissions from agricultural soils. More than 65% of the countries do not report CO₂ emissions from the cultivation of mineral soils, organic soils, or liming, and only a handful of countries have used country-specific, Tier 3 methods. Tier 3 methods usually involve process-based models and detailed, geographically specific activity data. Such methods can provide more robust, accurate estimates of emissions and removals but require greater diligence in documentation, transparency, and uncertainty assessment to ensure comparability between countries. Availability of detailed, spatially explicit activity data is a major constraint to implementing higher tiered methods in many countries.

Abbreviations: CRF, Common Reporting Format • GHG, greenhouse gas • IPCC, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change • IPCC-GL, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Guidelines • IPCC-GPG, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Good Practice Guidance • NIR, National Inventory Report • UNFCCC, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

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