A team of engineers and atmospheric scientists at Harvard University, working with a colleague from the California Institute of Technology’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, has calculated the increased amount of methane being expelled into the atmosphere due to increases in rice farming in parts of Africa.
Prior research has shown that methane is the second most important greenhouse gas (behind carbon dioxide)—it has been found to have more radiative properties (it holds in heat better) than CO2, which means that even though far less of it is emitted into the atmosphere, it still plays a major role in global warming.
Prior research has shown that agriculture activities (from crops and livestock combined) account for approximately 25% of all human-caused methane emissions into the atmosphere. Waste disposal and fossil fuel production account for most of the rest.
Prior research has also shown that growing rice in sub-Saharan Africa doubled in production from 2008 to 2018—a good trend for feeding people (it currently accounts for approximately 9% of the continent’s caloric intake) but not so good for the environment. Growing rice releases very large amounts of methane into the atmosphere.
In this new effort, the researchers started with numbers representing Africa’s total greenhouse gas emissions prior to 2008 and then added in the amount that has been emitted due to factors involved in growing rice, such as irrigating, flooding patties, burning fields, and harvesting.
2024-01-07 12:00:03
Article from phys.org rnrn