Rafael Novoa S-A.1, Sergio González M., Rosemary Novoa J., Rosa Rojas
The greenhouse gas emissions from Chilean agriculture were estimated. The results showed that during 1994, Chilean agriculture emitted 321.92 Gg of methane; 21.80 Gg of N2O; 2.96 Gg of NOx and 51.97 Gg of CO. Also, agriculture generated 2.59 Gg year-1 of non-methane volatile compound emissions (NMVOC). These figures as a percentage of the non-energy sector emissions are as follows: 74.3% for methane; 5.1 % for CO; 93.8 % for N2O; 9.8 % for NOx and 4.9 % for NMVOC. Taking into account the potential warming effects of methane and nitrous oxide as CO2 equivalent amounts, agriculture is responsible for 10,504 Gg CO2 year-1. Since forestry, land-use changes and handling of residues in Chile represent a net capture of 29,709 CO2 Gg year-1, agriculture reduces this surplus to 35.4 %. So, the total surplus is about 19.205 Gg year-1.
Key words: Greenhouse gases, emissions, agriculture, methane, nitrous oxides, carbon oxides.
1 Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias, Centro Regional de Investigación La Platina, Casilla 439/3, Santiago, Chile. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org ; email@example.com.