Mapping direct N2O emissions from peri-urban agriculture : the case of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona
Mendoza Beltran, Angelica (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Jepsen, Kelzy (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Rufí Salís, Martí (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Ventura, Sergi (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Madrid, Cristina (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Villalba, Gara (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Química, Biològica i Ambiental)

Date:	2022
Abstract:	Geographically explicit datasets reflecting local management of crops are needed to help improve direct nitrous oxide (N2O) emission inventories. Yet, the lack of geographically explicit datasets of relevant factors influencing the emissions make it difficult to estimate them in such way. Particularly, for local peri-urban agriculture, spatially explicit datasets of crop type, fertilizer use, irrigation, and emission factors (EFs) are hard to find, yet necessary for evaluating and promoting urban self-sufficiency, resilience, and circularity. We spatially distribute these factors for the peri-urban agriculture in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB) and create N2O emissions maps using crop-specific EFs as well as Tier 1 IPCC EFs for comparison. Further, the role of the soil types is qualitatively assessed. When compared to Tier 1 IPCC EFs, we find 15% more emissions (i. e. 7718 kg N2O-N year−1) than those estimated with the crop-specific EFs (i. e. 6533 kg N2O-N year−1) for the entire AMB. Emissions for most rainfed crop areas like cereals (e. g. oat and barley) and non-citric fruits (e. g. cherries and peaches), which cover 24% and 13% of AMB's peri-urban agricultural area respectively, are higher with Tier 1 EF. Conversely, crop-specific EFs estimate higher emissions for irrigated horticultural crops (e. g. tomato, artichoke) which cover 33% of AMB's peri-urban agricultural area and make up 70% of the total N2O emissions (4588 kg N2O-N year−1 using crop-specific EFs). Mapping the emissions helps evaluate spatial variability of key factors such as fertilizer use and irrigation of crops but carry uncertainties due to downscaling regional data to represent urban level data gaps. It also highlighted core emitting areas. Further the usefulness of the outputs on mitigation, sustainability and circularity studies are briefly discussed.
Grants:	European Commission 842460 European Commission 818002 Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades CEX2019-000940-M
Note:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-M
Note:	Altres ajuts: acords transformatius de la UAB
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Local food ; Urban agriculture ; GHG emissions maps ; Cities ; GIS
Published in:	Science of the total environment, Vol. 822 (May 2022) , art. 153514, ISSN 1879-1026

DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153514
PMID: 35101482

11 p, 2.5 MB

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA) > Sustainability and Environmental Protection (Sostenipra)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles