Published July 13, 2020 | Version April 2020
Dataset Open

FAOSTAT GHG Emissions from Organic Soils

Creators

  • 1. FAO

Description

The FAOSTAT domain “Cultivation of Organic soils” contains estimates of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions associated with the drainage of organic soils – using histosols as proxy – for agriculture. Data are computed geospatially, using the Tier 1 default factors of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2006). Estimates are available by country, by FAOSTAT regional aggregation and special group, including the Annex I and Non-Annex I Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and with global coverage for the period 1990–2019, with estimates for 2030 and 2050.

The FAOSTAT domain “Cultivation of Organic soils” disseminates N2O emissions, implied emission factors and underlying activity data, i.e. area (in ha) of organic soils drained for agriculture. Drainage and associated emissions are assessed separately for IPCC land use categories cropland and grassland, corresponding to FAO land use categories ‘’cropland’’ and ‘’permanent meadows and pastures.’’ GHG estimates are available in N2O and in CO2 equivalent (CO2eq). Conversion to CO2eq is made via Global Warming Potentials (GWP) coefficients. Results are disseminated separately for three different options currently in use in reporting, namely GWPs from: a) IPCC Second Assessment Report (SAR)(IPCC, 1996); b) IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) (IPCC, 2007); and c) IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (AR5)(IPCC, 2014). The original FAOSTAT domains can be found here:

Cultivation of Organic Soils: http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/GV

Drained Organic Soils on cropland: http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/GC and

Drained Organic Soils on grassland: http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/GG

 

The FAOSTAT emissions estimates may not coincide with GHG data reported by member countries to relevant international reporting processes. The aim of this domain is to provide a global reference database for assessing regional and global trends and in support of national data quality/data assurance processes.

Notes

README. The data are structured along following item element combinations. FIrst, info on Area Code and Area name are provided, with the FAOSTAT country code and its official name. Items include cropland organic soils (6727), grassland organic soils (6728), and their sum (6729). For each, elements are provided for area (5026), and for emissions of N2O expressed in CO2eq_SAR (72318), emissions CO2eq_AR4 (724314) and CO2eq_AR5 (724313), as well as for emissions of CO2 (72330), and implied C emissions factors (72410) - among others. A fuller explanation can be found under the definitions and standards sections of the parent FAOSTAT domains.

Files

Organic_soils_Area_GHG_1990_2019_Zenodo.csv

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Additional details

References

  • Tubiello, F.N., Biancalani, R., Salvatore, M., Rossi, S., and Conchedda, G., 2016. A Worldwide Assessment of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Drained Organic Soils, Sustain., 10.3390/su8040371.
  • FAO, 2020. Drained organic soils 1990 – 2019. Global, regional and country trends. FAOSTAT Analytical Brief Series 5. In press