New FAO estimates of greenhouse gas data show that emissions from agriculture, forestry and fisheries have nearly doubled over the past fifty years and could increase an additional 30 percent by 2050, without greater efforts to reduce them.

FAO's first global estimates of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture were released to contribute to the Fifth Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), released last month. Crop and livestock production represent the greatest contributor to atmospheric pollution, accounting for half of all emissions.

land use change and deforestation appear to have decreased by almost ten percent between 2001 and 2010. Even so, these emissions still contributed 3 billion tonnes CO₂ eq each year to the environment

Averaged over the 2001-2010 period, agriculture, forestry and other land uses emissions break down as follows:

• 5 billion tonnes CO₂ eq/yr from crop and livestock production
• 4 billion tonnes CO₂ eq/yr due to net forest conversion to other lands (a proxy for deforestation)
• 1 billion tonnes CO₂ eq/yr from degraded peatlands
• 0.2 billion tonnes CO₂ eq/yr by biomass fires

In addition to these emissions, some two billion tonnes CO₂ eq/yr were removed from the atmosphere during the same time frame as a result of carbon sequestration in forest sinks. The FAO report found that agricultural emissions are not growing as fast as fossil fuel emissions, which account for the vast majority of climate changing pollution.

Livestock most significant contributor

In line with findings published in March by a team of IPCC contributors from Sweden, who expressed concern at trends for rising consumption of animal products around the world, FAO found that the largest source of agricultural GHG emissions come from methane produced by livestock.

These emissions increased by 11 percent between 2001 and 2011, and by 2011, methane produced in this way accounted for 39 percent total GHG emissions from agriculture. Emissions from synthetic fertilisers accounted for 13 percent of agricultural air pollution (or 725 Mt CO2 eq.); these were the fastest growing source of emissions, having increased some 37 percent since 2001.

Although emissions as a whole increased, Europe's contribution to air pollutions fell by ten percent over the period. European emissions fell from 21 percent in 2001 to 11 percent in 2011.

FAO: Better data means better responses

FAO officials said that, in light of the sobering findings of the latest IPCC report, and the unprecedented detail of the emissions data, there is a pressing need to take better and more targeted action on emissions.

Francesco Tubiello, a spokesperson for the organisation, said, "FAO's new data represent the most comprehensive source of information on agriculture's contribution to global warming made to date. Up to now, information gaps have made it extremely difficult for scientists and policymakers to make strategic decisions regarding how to respond to climate change and has hampered efforts to mitigate agriculture's emissions."

‘'Data on emissions for AFOLU activities support member countries in better identifying their mitigation options and enable their farmers to take faster and more targeted climate-smart responses. This in turn improves their overall resilience and their food security. It also allows the countries to tap into international climate funding and accomplish their rural development goals. We also see much interest in capacity development on these topics at country level and respond to these needs through regional and country-level activities around the globe,'' he added.