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A Worldwide Assessment of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Drained Organic Soils

Author

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  • Francesco Nicola Tubiello

    (Statistics Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, Rome 00153, Italy)

  • Riccardo Biancalani

    (Land and Water Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, Rome 00153, Italy)

  • Mirella Salvatore

    (Climate and Environment Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, Rome 00153, Italy)

  • Simone Rossi

    (Climate and Environment Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, Rome 00153, Italy
    European Commission Joint Research Center, Via Enrico Fermi 2749, Ispra 21027, Italy)

  • Giulia Conchedda

    (Statistics Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, Rome 00153, Italy)

Abstract

Despite the importance of organic soils, including peatlands, in the global carbon cycle, detailed information on regional and global emissions is scarce. This is due to the difficulty to map, measure, and assess the complex dynamics of land, soil, and water interactions needed to assess the human-driven degradation of organic soils. We produced a new methodology for the comprehensive assessment of drained organic soils in agriculture and the estimation of the associated greenhouse gas emissions. Results indicated that over 25 million hectares of organic soils were drained worldwide for agriculture use, of which about 60% were in boreal and temperate cool areas, 34% in tropical areas, and 5% in warm temperate areas. Total emissions from the drainage were globally significant, totaling nearly one billion tonnes CO 2 eq annually. Of this, the CO 2 component, about 780 million tonnes, represented more than one-fourth of total net CO 2 emissions from agriculture, forestry, and land use. The bulk of these emissions came from a few tropical countries in Southeast Asia, and was linked to land clearing and drainage for crop cultivation. Geospatial data relative to this work were disseminated via the FAO geospatial server GeoNetwork, while the national aggregated statistics were disseminated via the FAOSTAT database.

Suggested Citation

  • Francesco Nicola Tubiello & Riccardo Biancalani & Mirella Salvatore & Simone Rossi & Giulia Conchedda, 2016. "A Worldwide Assessment of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Drained Organic Soils," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-13, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:8:y:2016:i:4:p:371-:d:68295
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Rhymes, Jennifer M. & Arnott, David & Chadwick, David R. & Evans, Christopher D. & Jones, David L., 2023. "Assessing the effectiveness, practicality and cost effectiveness of mitigation measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from intensively cultivated peatlands," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    2. Andrey Sirin & Maria Medvedeva & Vladimir Korotkov & Victor Itkin & Tatiana Minayeva & Danil Ilyasov & Gennady Suvorov & Hans Joosten, 2021. "Addressing Peatland Rewetting in Russian Federation Climate Reporting," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-17, November.
    3. Georgiana Moiceanu & Mirela Nicoleta Dinca, 2021. "Climate Change-Greenhouse Gas Emissions Analysis and Forecast in Romania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-21, November.
    4. Marco Rebhann & Yusuf Nadi Karatay & Günther Filler & Annette Prochnow, 2016. "Profitability of Management Systems on German Fenlands," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(11), pages 1-21, October.
    5. Olga Antsiferova & Maxim Napreenko & Tatiana Napreenko-Dorokhova, 2023. "Transformation of Soils and Mire Community Reestablishment Potential in Disturbed Abandoned Peatland: A Case Study from the Kaliningrad Region, Russia," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-22, October.
    6. Ryszard Oleszczuk & Andrzej Łachacz & Barbara Kalisz, 2022. "Measurements versus Estimates of Soil Subsidence and Mineralization Rates at Peatland over 50 Years (1966–2016)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-19, December.

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