Greenhouse Gases Emissions in Agricultural Systems and Climate Change Effects in Sub-Saharan Africa
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Date
2021
Authors
Ntinyari, Winnie
Gweyi-Onyango, Joseph P
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Springer
Abstract
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.
Description
Article
Keywords
Modeling, Pollution, Environment, Mitigation, Nitrous oxide, Carbon dioxide, Methane
Citation
Ntinyari, W., & Gweyi-Onyango, J. P. (2021). Greenhouse gases emissions in agricultural systems and climate change effects in Sub-Saharan Africa. In African handbook of climate change adaptation (pp. 1081-1105). Cham: Springer International Publishing.