Greenhouse Gases Emissions in Agricultural Systems and Climate Change Effects in sub-Saharan Africa

Climate change has been viewed to result from anthropogenic human activities that have significantly altered the Nitrogen (N) cycle and carbon cycles, increasing the risks of global warming and pollution. A key cause of global warming is the increase in greenhouse gas emissions including methane, nitrous oxide, and carbon among others. The context of this chapter is based on a comprehensive desktop review on published scientific papers on climate change, greenhouse emissions, agricultural fertilizer use, modeling and projections of greenhouse gases emissions. Interestingly, sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has the least emissions of the greenhouses gases accounting for only 7% of the total world’s emissions, implying that there is overall very little contribution yet it has the highest regional burden concerning climate change impacts. However, the values could be extremely higher than this due to lack of proper estimation and measurement tools in the region and therefore, caution needs to be taken early enough to avoid taking the trend currently experienced in developed nations. In SSA, agricultural production is the leading sector in emissions of N compound to the atmosphere followed by energy and transportation. The greatest challenge lies in the management of the two systems to ensure sufficiency in food production using more bioenergy hence less pollution. Integrating livestock and cropping systems is one strategy that can reduce methane emissions. Additionally, developing fertilizer use policy to improve management of fertilizer and organic manure have been potentially considered as effective in reducing the effects of agriculture activities on climate change and hence the main focus of the current chapter.

Infectious Diseases, Livestock, and Climate: A Vicious Cycle?

Impacts of reduced synthetic fertiliser use under current and future climates: Exploration using integrated agroecosystem modelling in the upper River Taw observatory, UK

Simple SummaryMinimizing the effects of climate change by reducing GHG emissions is crucial and can be accomplished by truly understanding the carbon footprint phenomenon. This study aims to improve the understanding of carbon footprint alteration due to agricultural management and fertility practices. It provides a detailed review of carbon footprint management under the impacts of environmental factors, land use, and agricultural practices. The results show that healthy soils have numerous benefits for the general public and especially farmers. These benefits include being stable and resilient, resistant to erosion, easily workable in cultivated systems, good habitat for soil micro-organisms, fertile and good structure, large carbon sinks, and hence lower carbon footprint. Intensive tillage is harmful to soil structure by oxidizing carbon and causing GHG emissions. If possible, no-till; if not, minimum tillage frequency and depth of tillage, and optimum moisture are recommended. The soil should be at an appropriate level of moisture when tillage takes place. Diverse cropping systems are better for the soil than monocultures. Minimizing machinery operations can help to avoid soil compaction. Building soil organic carbon in the most stable form is the most efficient practice of sustainable crop production.Global attention to climate change issues, especially air temperature changes, has drastically increased over the last half-century. Along with population growth, greater surface temperature, and higher greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, there are growing concerns for ecosystem sustainability and other human existence on earth. The contribution of agriculture to GHG emissions indicates a level of 18% of total GHGs, mainly from carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O). Thus, minimizing the effects of climate change by reducing GHG emissions is crucial and can be accomplished by truly understanding the carbon footprint (CF) phenomenon. Therefore, the purposes of this study were to improve understanding of CF alteration due to agricultural management and fertility practices. CF is a popular concept in agro-environmental sciences due to its role in the environmental impact assessments related to alternative solutions and global climate change. Soil moisture content, soil temperature, porosity, and water-filled pore space are some of the soil properties directly related to GHG emissions. These properties raise the role of soil structure and soil health in the CF approach. These properties and GHG emissions are also affected by different land-use changes, soil types, and agricultural management practices. Soil management practices globally have the potential to alter atmospheric GHG emissions. Therefore, the relations between photosynthesis and GHG emissions as impacted by agricultural management practices, especially focusing on soil and related systems, must be considered. We conclude that environmental factors, land use, and agricultural practices should be considered in the management of CF when maximizing crop productivity.

Better information on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and mitigation potential in the agricultural sector is necessary to manage these emissions and identify responses that are consistent with the food security and economic development priorities of countries. Critical activity data (what crops or livestock are managed in what way) are poor or lacking for many agricultural systems, especially in developing countries. In addition, the currently available methods for quantifying emissions and mitigation are often too expensive or complex or not sufficiently user friendly for widespread use.The purpose of this focus issue is to capture the state of the art in quantifying greenhouse gases from agricultural systems, with the goal of better understanding our current capabilities and near-term potential for improvement, with particular attention to quantification issues relevant to smallholders in developing countries. This work is timely in light of international discussions and negotiations around how agriculture should be included in efforts to reduce and adapt to climate change impacts, and considering that significant climate financing to developing countries in post-2012 agreements may be linked to their increased ability to identify and report GHG emissions (Murphy et al 2010, CCAFS 2011, FAO 2011).

Uniting the Global Gastroenterology Community to Meet the Challenge of Climate Change and Non-Recyclable Waste

Introduction So far in this book we have described the mechanisms by which climate change affects birds, reviewed potential future changes in their distribution and abundance caused by climate change and discussed the implications of these for conservation. It is clear that as the magnitude of warming increases, so will the likely severity of impacts on bird populations. The number of projected bird extinctions is modelled to increase by about 1.6 times from a 2 °C to 4 °C global warming scenario, and differ by approximately 2.5 times between a 2 °C and 6 °C scenario (Box 6.5), when it is estimated one-quarter of global bird species would be at risk of being committed to extinction as a result of climate change (Section 6.8.2). Clearly, addressing the causes of climate change will be an important way of reducing the likely detrimental impacts of climate warming on birds (Warren et al . 2013). However, attempts to do this through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions or the removal of gases from the atmosphere (termed climate change mitigation) may also have a detrimental effect on bird populations. The principal sources of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas), deforestation and other land use changes leading to the burning or decay of plant material, release of methane from refuse in landfill sites, gut fermentation by ruminant livestock and the farming of rice, and release of nitrous oxide caused by the use of fertilizers in agriculture (Section 1.5). Changes in the ways in which energy is obtained and used, the protection of forests and peatlands and changes in farming practice are therefore the main methods being considered for climate change mitigation. In addition, there might be ways in which the environment could be artificially adapted to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere at higher rates. All of these mitigation measures will change the natural environment and could therefore affect bird populations. In this chapter we examine some of these potential effects and assess ways in which potential adverse impacts of mitigation may be reduced, focussing particularly on renewable energy generation.

Climate-smart livestock production at landscape level in Kenya

Reducing nitrogen fertilizer application as a climate change mitigation strategy: Understanding farmer decision-making and potential barriers to change in the US

Aquaculture is a major source of protein in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), a region experiencing rapid population growth, changing lifestyles and preferences, and increased health awareness. However, the industry is still underdeveloped and is of a subsistence nature. Climate change has impacted aquaculture production (AQUAP) in SSA because of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, AQUAP activities also results in GHG emissions. In SSA, the causal effect of GHG emissions and AQUAP has not yet been empirically established and quantified. The objective of the study was to determine the relationship between GHG emissions and AQUAP in SSA. The parsimonious vector autoregressive (VAR) model was used in the study, with annual time series data of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), meat production (MP), GHG emissions, and AQUAP from 1970 to 2020. The findings demonstrate that AQUAP in SSA was suppressed until 2006 when it suddenly increased. Western and Central Africa have dominated AQUAP in SSA. GHG emissions were dropping sporadically until 1991 when they began to rise gradually. In both the long and short run, GHG emissions had a negative influence on AQUAP, while AQUAP had an asymmetric impact on GHG emissions. AQUAP impacts GDP positively in both the long and short run, and GHG emissions had an asymmetric impact on GDP. In conclusion, GHG emissions negatively affect AQUAP. In addition, AQUAP reduced GHG emissions in the short run but however increased it in the long run. This indicates the infancy of the sector in SSA, the initial phase of the Environmental Kuznets Curves (EKC). Furthermore, GDP is positively affected by both GHG emissions and AQUAP. This also cements the initial stages of the EKC, with economic development also powered by GHG emissions, with also the positive contribution of AQUAP to economic growth. Overall, the study concludes of initial economic, and aquaculture sectoral development powered by GHG emissions. However, this is also leading to increased emissions. The study recommends upscaling AQUAP in SSA given its infancy, huge economic potential, sustainability and low GHG emission potential but should be grounded on environmentally sustainable practices.

Total Intravenous Anesthetic Versus Inhaled Anesthetic: Pick Your Poison.

Agriculture is the leading sector that is responsible for global climate change through its significant contribution to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Intriguingly, sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is experiencing higher temperatures and lesser rainfall due to climate change enhanced by anthropogenic GHG emissions. Agriculture and energy use in the SSA predominantly influence the anthropogenic GHG leading to global warming. Therefore, reducing agricultural GHG emissions (such as carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane) plays a significant role in climate change adaptation. This paper reviews the potential implication of agriculture and energy use on climate change and its implications on environmental sustainability in SSA. Herewith, we explored various GHGs emitted through agriculture-energy use, their effects on climate change, as well as several climate change adaptation mechanisms, and gaps in existing knowledge that necessitate more research, were also explored. We found that agriculture had negative implications on climate change impacts in the SSA countries and that a more focused strategy that is both economically and technically feasible in terms of preferences for land use, effective energy use, and food supply would aid in GHG emission reduction and environmental sustainability. Adapting to the projected changes in the short term while investing in long-term mitigation strategies might be the only way toward a sustainable environment in this region.

Globally, agriculture is directly responsible for 14% of annual greenhouse gas(GHG) emissions and induces an additional 17% through land use change, mostlyin developing countries (Vermeulen et al 2012). Agricultural intensification andexpansion in these regions is expected to catalyze the most significant relativeincreases in agricultural GHG emissions over the next decade (Smith et al 2008,Tilman et al 2011). Farms in the developing countries of sub-Saharan Africa andAsia are predominately managed by smallholders, with 80% of land holdingssmaller than ten hectares (FAO 2012). One can therefore posit that smallholderfarming significantly impacts the GHG balance of these regions today and willcontinue to do so in the near future.However, our understanding of the effect smallholder farming has on theEarth’s climate system is remarkably limited. Data quantifying existing andreduced GHG emissions and removals of smallholder production systems areavailable for only a handful of crops, livestock, and agroecosystems (Herrero et al2008, Verchot et al 2008, Palm et al 2010). For example, fewer than fifteenstudies of nitrous oxide emissions from soils have taken place in sub-SaharanAfrica, leaving the rate of emissions virtually undocumented. Due to a scarcity ofdata on GHG sources and sinks, most developing countries currently quantifyagricultural emissions and reductions using IPCC Tier 1 emissions factors.However, current Tier 1 emissions factors are either calibrated to data primarilyderived from developed countries, where agricultural production conditions aredissimilar to that in which the majority of smallholders operate, or from data thatare sparse or of mixed quality in developing countries (IPCC 2006). For the mostpart, there are insufficient emissions data characterizing smallholder agricultureto evaluate the level of accuracy or inaccuracy of current emissions estimates.Consequentially, there is no reliable information on the agricultural GHG budgetsfor developing economies. This dearth of information constrains the capacity totransition to low-carbon agricultural development, opportunities for smallholdersto capitalize on carbon markets, and the negotiating position of developingcountries in global climate policy discourse.Concerns over the poor state of information, in terms of data availability andrepresentation, have fueled appeals for new approaches to quantifying GHGemissions and removals from smallholder agriculture, for both existing conditionsand mitigation interventions (Berry and Ryan 2013, Olander et al 2013).Considering the dependence of quantification approaches on data and the currentdata deficit for smallholder systems, it is clear that in situ measurements must bea core part of initial and future strategies to improve GHG inventories and

<p>Groundwater resources in the South of Portugal are under growing pressure due to an unbalanced water budget, mostly due to low natural recharge in recent years which, in some cases is leading to historically lowest observed groundwater levels. Additionally, groundwater quality issues have also been studied, mostly related to the use of fertilizers in agriculture, nonetheless, emerging contaminants such as pharmaceuticals are a growing risk and recent field campaigns have identified the occurrence of such substances in groundwater of South of Portugal. Moreover, the effects of climate change are expected to worsen the current situation. Modelling groundwater flow and contaminant transport with deterministic models is a practical tool to predict how groundwater might respond to climate change’s effects. However, to include uncertainty regarding highly complex geological heterogeneity units as well as input and outputs can be quite demanding and challenging with deterministic models. The stochastic approach is a promising technique that incorporates such uncertainties into the models. Markov chain transitions, a facies-based geostatistical approach represent a widely implemented stochastic approach for the generation of different scenarios with spatial distributions of hydraulic conductivity in heterogeneous aquifers. Particle tracking presents an alternative means of simulating the advective movement of a contaminant, offering the possibility of interpreting particle behavior. Backward particle tracking is computationally fast, numerically stable, and can reduce the uncertainties of source location estimates, optimizing the design of monitoring networks. In this work, a methodology consisting of a stochastic version of the backward particle tracking is applied to a multi-layered coastal aquifer in Faro (Algarve) to provide insight regarding the source of the pharmaceuticals detected in groundwater. To attain this task a three-dimensional flow and transport FEFLOW model for the study area (Campina de Faro aquifer system) was used.</p><p>KEYWORDS: Groundwater, Emerging contaminants, Pharmaceuticals, Portugal, Campina de Faro</p><p><br>ACKNOWLEDGMENTS<br>This work was supported by eGROUNDWATER – Citizen science and ICT-based enhanced information systems for groundwater assessment, modeling, and sustainable participatory management (GA n. 1921) and MIT Portugal Partnership 2030 (MPP2030-FCT) under the Doctoral Grant PRT/BD/153504/2021 Climate Science & Climate Change.</p>

The increased use of fertilizers in agriculture and forest and horticulture nurseries contributes to the pollution of water resources and greenhouse gas emissions. The objective of this study is to evaluate a new generation of fertilizers coated with new biodegradable polymers in terms of physical quality, release kinetics, and their effect on reducing nitrate leaching and N2O emissions and compare them to uncoated fertilizers (Urea, monoammonium phosphate (MAP), and KCl) having the same mineral nutrient concentration. In a peat-based substrate, the release of mineral nutrients was similar in both types of fertilizer. Two hours after application, Urea released 34% more urea than Biodrix N, the difference disappearing after one day. The leaching of cumulative ammonium nitrogen after 20 days was reduced by 40% and 26% respectively by Aminaex and Biodrix N compared to Urea. In a peat-based substrate containing 30% (v/v) of compost, the cumulative nitrate leaching was reduced by 54% by Biodrix N and by 41% by Aminaex compared to Urea. The highest average N2O flux was observed on the first day for Urea, whereas for Aminaex and Biodrix N, N2O emissions increased on the third day, reaching a peak of efflux on day 10. A 10-day delay of the N2O efflux emissions and a longer period of emissions were observed in treatments containing Aminaex and Biodrix N compared to Urea. Cumulative N2O efflux was 142, 154, and 171 mg m−2, respectively, for Urea, Aminaex, and Biodrix N over a 20-day period. These new biodegradable polymer-coated nitrogen fertilizers can reduce mineral nutrient leaching in the event of heavy rainfall and lower maximum N2O emissions in comparison with conventional nitrogen sources.