Potential greenhouse gas emissions mitigation through increased grazing pressure: a case study in North Portugal

IF 2.8 4区环境科学与生态学 Q3 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Carbon Management Pub Date : 2022-01-02 DOI:10.1080/17583004.2022.2029575

Abderrahmane Ameray, J. Castro, M. Castro

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引用次数: 1

Abstract

Abstract Wildfires have been an important process affecting forests and rangelands worldwide. In the Mediterranean region, wildfires burn about half a million hectares of forest and scrubland every year. Fuel loads are the main factor controlling fire risk and its propagation. The reduction of fuel loads by grazing could help to decrease the spread and intensity of wildfires in this region. This study aims to assess the contribution of sheep grazing on fuel load management and their role to the mitigation of wildfire greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The methodological approach is based on a simulation of the grazing pressure required to reduce a given quantity of fuel, under the assumption that if it is not consumed, it becomes fuel. Following, a simulation model was designed to estimate the total GHG emissions prevented through grazing, by reducing the risk of fire. These emissions were estimated based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) framework. The accumulated fuels were estimated to be 3126.65 kg dry matter (DM) ha−1 and the biomass potentially consumed by sheep was 1416.03 kg DM ha−1 yr−1, corresponding to 45.29% of accumulated fuel loads. Our findings suggest a value of 3.88 sheep ha−1 day−1 as the ideal to reduce 4833.63 kg CO2eq ha−1 yr−1 of emissions, distributed between CO2 (−2221.76 kg CO2eq ha−1 yr−1; 45.96%), NOx (−1873.41 kg CO2eq ha−1 yr−1; 38.76%), CO (−454.55 kg CO2eq ha−1 yr−1; 9.40%), CH4 (−186.35 kg CO2eq ha−1 yr−1; 3.86%) and N2O (−97.56 kg CO2eq ha−1 yr−1; 2%). The results of this study also underline that livestock can help to mitigate climate change in areas prone to wildfires.

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通过增加放牧压力可能减少温室气体排放:北葡萄牙的案例研究

野火是影响全球森林和牧场的重要过程。在地中海地区，野火每年烧毁大约50万公顷的森林和灌木丛。燃料负荷是控制火灾风险及其蔓延的主要因素。通过放牧减少燃料负荷可以帮助减少该地区野火的蔓延和强度。本研究旨在评估羊放牧对燃料负荷管理的贡献及其对野火温室气体(GHG)排放减缓的作用。方法方法是基于对减少一定数量燃料所需放牧压力的模拟，假设如果燃料不被消耗，它就成为燃料。随后，设计了一个模拟模型来估计通过放牧减少火灾风险而减少的温室气体排放总量。这些排放量是根据政府间气候变化专门委员会(IPCC)框架估算的。累积燃料估计为3126.65 kg干物质(DM) ha−1，绵羊潜在消耗的生物量为1416.03 kg DM ha−1 yr−1，相当于累积燃料负荷的45.29%。我们的研究结果表明，3.88只羊ha−1 day−1是减少4833.63 kg CO2eq ha−1 year−1排放量的理想值，分布在CO2 (- 2221.76 kg CO2eq ha−1 year−1;45.96%)， NOx(−1873.41 kg CO2eq ha−1 yr−1;38.76%)， CO (- 454.55 kg CO2eq ha - 1年- 1;9.40%)， CH4 (- 186.35 kg CO2eq ha - 1年- 1;3.86%)和N2O (- 97.56 kg CO2eq ha - 1年- 1;2%)。这项研究的结果还强调，在容易发生野火的地区，牲畜可以帮助缓解气候变化。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Carbon Management ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES-

CiteScore

5.80

自引率

3.20%

发文量

期刊介绍： Carbon Management is a scholarly peer-reviewed forum for insights from the diverse array of disciplines that enhance our understanding of carbon dioxide and other GHG interactions – from biology, ecology, chemistry and engineering to law, policy, economics and sociology. The core aim of Carbon Management is it to examine the options and mechanisms for mitigating the causes and impacts of climate change, which includes mechanisms for reducing emissions and enhancing the removal of GHGs from the atmosphere, as well as metrics used to measure performance of options and mechanisms resulting from international treaties, domestic policies, local regulations, environmental markets, technologies, industrial efforts and consumer choices. One key aim of the journal is to catalyse intellectual debate in an inclusive and scientific manner on the practical work of policy implementation related to the long-term effort of managing our global GHG emissions and impacts. Decisions made in the near future will have profound impacts on the global climate and biosphere. Carbon Management delivers research findings in an accessible format to inform decisions in the fields of research, education, management and environmental policy.