Environmental Systems Analysis National Inventories of Methane and Nitrous Oxide Emissions from Agriculture in the Netherlands Carolien Kroeze, André van Amstel Environmental Systems Analysis Group, Wageningen University, The Netherlands In cooperation with Mathieu Dumont, Dick Both (Novem) and Martha van Eerdt (RIVM)

Environmental Systems Analysis Outline Agriculture as a source of methane and nitrous oxide in the Netherlands Stepwise improvement of national greenhouse gas inventories in the Netherlands Protocols to document and improve the emission inventory preparation

Environmental Systems Analysis Relative importance of CH 4 and N 2 O in 1995 emissions Source: RIVM (worldwide) and Third National Communication (the Netherlands)

Environmental Systems Analysis CH 4 emissions in the Netherlands Source: Third National Communication

Environmental Systems Analysis N 2 O emissions in the Netherlands Source: Third National Communication

Environmental Systems Analysis Six key sources of CH 4 and N 2 O from agriculture Methane from enteric fermentation in cattle Methane from fermentation in swine Methane from manure from cattle Methane from manure from swine Direct nitrous oxide emissions from agriculture Indirect nitrous oxide emissions from nitrogen use in agriculture

Environmental Systems Analysis Improvement of National Inventories Program to built National System + improve GHG monitoring under responsibility of Ministry of Environment (VROM). interdepartmental steering committee (WEB) practical programcoordination by Novem various organisations involved (CBS, ECN, RIVM, WUR, consultants, etc.) Elements of the program Elaboration of protocols for GHG monitoring QA/QC plan and QA/QC system implementation Monitoring improvement programme

Environmental Systems Analysis Improvement of National Inventories Stepwise approach Step 1 (near future) : New protocols for six key sources of emissions to document and improve the national inventory process Step 2 ( ) : Further improvement of consistency with IPCC Guidelines and IPCC Good Practice Guidance Step 3 (from 2004, under consideration) : Improvements in emission estimates and in monitoring of emission reduction measures After this (not yet planned) : Improvements beyond the obligations in the IPCC Good Practice Guidance

Environmental Systems Analysis Protocols for key sources To document the emission inventory preparation process To describe the method used for estimating greenhouse gas emissions Available as final drafts (in Dutch)

Environmental Systems Analysis Protocol: CH 4 from enteric fermentation Emissions are estimated based on average live-weight, dry matter intake, feeding level and methane yield for different age classes within the dairy and beef cattle Emission estimates are the same as in IPCC Guidelines, except for dairy cattle and other cattle, which are slightly lower than IPCC default values

Environmental Systems Analysis Protocol: CH 4 from manure management Emissions are estimated from manure type, the volatile solids fraction, the maximum potential methane emission per kilo volatile solids, and a methane conversion factor Method is in line with IPCC Tier 1 approach –fixed country specific emission factor per unit excretion –country specific yearly excretion amounts per animal for each different animal class IPCC Tier 2 approach cannot be applied because of missing information on manure management and storage

Environmental Systems Analysis N 2 O: difference between National Inventory Report (NIR) and IPCC default

Environmental Systems Analysis Protocol: Direct N 4 O emissions from soils Cultivated organic soils: IPCC default method N inputs to soils Synthetic fertilisers: Country specific (mineral and organic soils) Animal manureCountry specific (mineral and organic soils, surface spreading and injection) N-fixing cropsIPCC default Crop residuesIPCC default Grazing animalsCountry specific (urine and faeces)

Environmental Systems Analysis Protocol: Indirect N 4 O emissions Induced by atmospheric deposition of agricultural NH 3 and NOx: IPCC default method Induced by leaching and runoff IPCC default

Environmental Systems Analysis Medium term improvements (coming years) Improvements as new experimental data come available (projects started in the non-CO 2 reduction program), e.g. –methane emissions from enteric fermentation (Tier 2 approach) Improvement in the method for monitoring of emission reduction, e.g. –indirect N 2 O emissions

Environmental Systems Analysis Long term improvements (not yet planned) Assessment of uncertainties Process-based modeling –biogenic N 2 O emissions Interrelations with policies for other air pollution problems (LRTAP convention), e.g. NH 3 Long term measurements at a representative number of sites needed