Botswana - Agricultural methane emissions (% of total)

Agricultural methane emissions (% of total) in Botswana was 85.88 as of 2008. Its highest value over the past 38 years was 94.62 in 1970, while its lowest value was 69.00 in 2003.

Definition: Agricultural methane emissions are emissions from animals, animal waste, rice production, agricultural waste burning (nonenergy, on-site), and savannah burning.

Source: World Bank staff estimates from original source: European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC)/Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL). Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR): http://edgar.jrc.ec.europa.eu/.

See also:

Year Value
1970 94.62
1971 92.85
1972 93.67
1973 93.89
1974 93.88
1975 94.14
1976 93.84
1977 93.98
1978 93.55
1979 93.93
1980 94.56
1981 92.92
1982 92.94
1983 92.57
1984 91.16
1985 90.31
1986 89.31
1987 90.77
1988 88.25
1989 88.80
1990 87.93
1991 86.59
1992 85.61
1993 84.44
1994 84.51
1995 85.60
1996 86.13
1997 85.07
1998 83.17
1999 82.43
2000 81.14
2001 83.78
2002 83.76
2003 69.00
2004 71.28
2005 74.56
2006 78.58
2007 73.64
2008 85.88

Development Relevance: The addition of man-made greenhouse gases to the Atmosphere disturbs the earth's radiative balance. This is leading to an increase in the earth's surface temperature and to related effects on climate, sea level rise and world agriculture. Emissions of CO2 are from burning oil, coal and gas for energy use, burning wood and waste materials, and from industrial processes such as cement production. Emission intensity is the average emission rate of a given pollutant from a given source relative to the intensity of a specific activity. Emission intensities are also used to compare the environmental impact of different fuels or activities. The related terms - emission factor and carbon intensity - are often used interchangeably. The carbon dioxide emissions of a country are only an indicator of one greenhouse gas. For a more complete idea of how a country influences climate change, gases such as methane and nitrous oxide should be taken into account. This is particularly important in agricultural economies. The environmental effects of carbon dioxide are of significant interest. Carbon dioxide (CO2) makes up the largest share of the greenhouse gases contributing to global warming and climate change. Converting all other greenhouse gases (methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6)) to carbon dioxide (or CO2) equivalents makes it possible to compare them and to determine their individual and total contributions to global warming. The Kyoto Protocol, an environmental agreement adopted in 1997 by many of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), is working towards curbing CO2 emissions globally.

Limitations and Exceptions: National reporting to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change that follows the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change guidelines is based on national emission inventories and covers all sources of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions as well as carbon sinks (such as forests). To estimate emissions, the countries that are Parties to the Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC) use complex, state-of-the-art methodologies recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Statistical Concept and Methodology: IPCC category 4 = Agriculture. Methane emissions result largely from agricultural activities, industrial production landfills and wastewater treatment, and other sources such as tropical forest and other vegetation fires. The emissions are usually expressed in carbon dioxide equivalents using the global warming potential, which allows the effective contributions of different gases to be compared. A kilogram of methane is 21 times as effective at trapping heat in the earth's atmosphere as a kilogram of carbon dioxide within 100 years.

Aggregation method: Weighted average

Periodicity: Annual

Classification

Topic: Environment Indicators

Sub-Topic: Emissions