Lokupitiya, Erandathie (Colorado State University, A 245, Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Fort Collins, CO, 80523; Phone: 970-491-1604; Fax: 970-491-1965; Email: elokupit@nrel.colostate.edu)

Inventorying Agricultural Soil Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Methods Used by Annex 1 Countries

E. Lokupitiya *, K. Paustian

Under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, member countries are required to prepare and submit national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories, together with information on the methods used in estimating GHG emissions. Agricultural soils have been identified as a major source category under the Agriculture sector. With regard to the methodology, inventory methods for soils are relatively more complex than for many other emission sources, and inventory estimates for soils have been implemented only to varying degrees among member countries. Currently, the default methodology formulated by IPCC has been used by majority of the member countries, but several Annex1 countries have developed more advanced, country-specific methods. This analysis summarizes and evaluates the methods used by Annex 1 countries in estimating CO₂ and N₂O emissions in agricultural soils.