Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
36
Crutzen, P J (1986), 'Methane Production by Domestic Animals',
Tellus B Chemical and Physical Meteorology
,
1986, Vol 38, p 271.
37
Bolle (1986) allocates 18 per cent of emissions to ruminants and 31 per cent to paddy fields. Reeburgh (1993)
assigns 16 per cent to animals (80 million tonnes) and 20 per cent to rice (100 million tonnes). Bolle, H J
et al
(1986),
'Other Greenhouse Gases and Aerosols: Assessing their Role for Atmospheric Radiative Transfer', in Bolib, B
et al
(eds),
The Greenhouse Effect, Climatic Change and Ecosystems
, Wiley, NY, 1986. Reeburgh, W S
et al
(1993), 'The Role of
Methylotrophy in the Global CH4 budget', in Murrell, J C and Kelly, D P (eds),
Microbial Growth on C-1 Compounds
;
Intercept, UK 1993.
www.igac.noaa.gov/newsletter/highlights/1996/ch4.php
38
Khalil, M A K and Shearer, M J (2005),
Decreasing Emissions of Methane from Rice Agriculture
, International
Congress on Greenhouse Gases and Animal Agriculture, GGAA Working papers, p 307-15.
39
Rice figures from Le Mer, J and Roger, P (2001), 'Production, Oxidation, Emission and Consumption of
Methane by Soils: A Review',
European Journal of Soil Biology
, 37, 25, cited in Environmental Change Institute,
op cit. 34 p 16,
which tally with my own calculations. Milk figures based on my calculations from FAO (2006),
op cit. 5,
and Nix,
J, Farm Management Pocketbook, Imperial College, 2007
and corroborated by others, e.g. L
Chase (n.d.),
Methane Emissions from Dairy Cattle
, Cornell University,
http://www.ag.iastate.edu/wastemgmt/Mitiga-
tion_Conference_proceedings/CD_proceedings/Animal_Housing_Diet/Chase-Methane_Emissions.pdf
; and M J Auldist
et al
(n.d.),
Methane Emissions from Grazing Dairy Cows in Victoria
, University of Melbourne,
http://www.asap.asn.au/
ASAP1-page_example.pdf
.
These figures may not include the enteric emissions from calves and heifers, nor the meat
and leather value of the culled cow. Methane emissions per litre of milk in India, where yields are lower, have been es-
timated at 53 grams per kilo of milk; Singhal, K K
et al
(2005), 'Methane Emission Estimates from Enteric Fermentation
in Indian Livestock: Dry Matter Intake Approach',
Current Science
, Vol 88, No1 Jan 2005.
40
These figures are derived from a breakdown of vehicle emissions at the carbon calculator site Carbon Independ-
ent,
http://www.carbonindependent.org/sources_car.htm
.
They broadly accord with figures given in McKay, D (2009),
Sustainable Energy - Without the Hot Air
, UIT, but the calculation via McKay is more complicated, because he works in
kilowatt hours, and he allocates the embodied energy of cars and petrol to other sectors.
41
I say 'arguably' because the methane emissions from oil are less than from gas or coal.
42
Fenton, James (2004), 'A New Paradigm for the Uplands'. ECOS 25:1, p 4.
43
Crutzen, P J (1986),
op cit.
44
FAO,
op cit.
., p 363. The WRI give 40 per cent of the earth's surface excluding Greenland and Antarctica. Grass-
land Ecosystems, WRI,
http://www.wri.org/biodiv/pubs_content_text.cfm?ContentID=281
.
45
EPA and FAO global estimates, FAO (2006),
op cit.
, p 97.
46
This is the figure most commonly cited, e.g. Basset, Peter (2004),
Wildebeest on the Serengeti, World on the
Move
, BBC Radio 4
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/worldonthemove/reports/wildebeest-on-the-serengeti/
; Travellers Point
(2004),
The Herds of God: The Great Wildebeest Migrations
,
www.travellerspoint.com/forum.cfm?thread=3663
; the
range given in a variety of mostly promotional literature is from 1.3 million to 2 million.
47
Avery, D (2002),
Would Organic Farming Unleash a Billion Cattle on US Wildlands?
Center for Global Issues,
48
Popper, D E and F J (1999), 'The Buffalo Commons: Metaphor as Method',
Geographical Review
, 89(4), 1999, pp
491-510, draft available at
http://www.gprc.org/buffalocommons_method.html
