Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
average extracting 1m
3
groundwater requires 0.820 kWh of energy in
Pakistan. This amount of energy is equivalent to lighting up a 100 W bulb
for more than 8 h.
9.2.5 CARBON FOOTPRINTS OF PAKISTAN'S
GROUNDWATER IRRIGATION
Pakistan's contribution to total global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is
miniscule (about 0.8%) and its per capita GHG emissions stand at a level
which corresponds to one-third of the global average (Planning Commis-
sion, 2010). The total GHG emissions of Pakistan in 1994 were 182 MMT
of CO
2
equivalence, which increased to 309 MMT of CO
2
equivalence
in 2008, registering an increase of 3.9% yr
−1
(Pakistan Atomic Energy
Commission, 2009). The biggest contributor to GHG is the energy sec-
tor with 51% share, followed by the agriculture sector (39%), industrial
processes (6%) and other activities (5%). Future estimates suggest that
due to increasing energy demand, CO
2
emissions from the energy sector
will increase to 2685 MMT of CO
2
equivalence from the current level of
only 157 MMT of CO
2
equivalence. This shows the importance for Paki-
stan that it take serious steps to control GHG emissions in the energy sec-
tor. Controlling groundwater extraction could be one of the most effective
strategies in this direction.
Carbon intensity of electricity and diesel is 0.4062kg C kWh
−1
and
0.732 kg C l
−1
, respectively (Shah, 2009). This implies that annually a total
sum of 3.8 MMT of CO
2
is emitted as a result of groundwater irrigation in
Pakistan. Of this fi gure, which is roughly 1.2% of Pakistan's total carbon
emissions, 1.4 MMT of CO
2
is emitted through electricity consumption
and 2.4 MMT of CO
2
through diesel combustion. In other words, on aver-
age, the extraction of every cubic metre of groundwater in Pakistan comes
with a hidden environmental cost of 80 g of carbon emissions. Therefore
controlling energy demand in the agriculture sector would be a big step
forward in limiting overall carbon emissions.
