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INTRODUCTION

Significance of the Study

With the global urban population now exceeding 50 percent, the

inhabitants of cities are recognized as a major driver of global greenhouse gas

(GHG) emissions (Satterthwaite, 2008). Moreover, as centers of wealth and

creativity, with high population densities and economies of scale, cities must

play a significant role in tackling global climate change. This is particularly

clear in a political context where goals and actions of groups such as the C40

mayors exceed those of many national governments. As a first step to

addressing climate change many cities have established inventories of GHG

emissions, often using simple pragmatic approach of the International Council

for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI, 2008). Such inventories of urban

GHG emissions provide a basis for action on climate change.

The global warming potential of GHGs attributable to cities, including

carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and several other gases, is expressed

in terms of carbon dioxide equivalents, eCO₂.

A greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory is an accounting of GHGs that are

emitted to and/or removed from atmosphere over a period of time. A

greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory is a useful planning tool in developing

mitigation actions for the entire community. It includes emissions from

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activities within the LGU’s jurisdiction, including the emissions from sources

and/or activities in the different sector within the community, such as

agriculture and waste.

This study can be used as reference for the Local Government Unit in

Digos City in quantifying and managing information and data related to the

development of the GHG inventories.

Objectives of the Study

This study generally aims to have Agriculture and Solid waste

greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventory at Bagsak, Barangay Igpit, Digos

City.

Specifically the study aims to:

1. identify and quantify the crop production greenhouse gas emission

sources

2. identify and quantify the livestock production greenhouse gas

emission sources

3. to create a greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions chart of agriculture and

solid waste sector

4. calculate the total agriculture and solid waste greenhouse gas

emissions at Bagsak, Barangay Igpit, Digos City.

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Expected Outputs of the Study

The expected outputs of this study are the following:

1. the crop production greenhouse gas emission sources

2. the livestock production greenhouse gas emission sources

3. a greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions chart of agriculture and solid

waste sector

4. the total agriculture and solid waste greenhouse gas emissions at

Bagsak, Barangay Igpit, Digos City

Scope and Limitations of the Study

The study is limited only in getting data on the two categories of

emission sources, the agriculture and solid waste in Bagsak, Barangay Igpit,

Digos City.

Time and Place of the Study

The study will be conducted on December 2016 to April 2016 at

Bagsak, Barangay Igpit, Digos City.

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Operational Definition of Terms

Activity data is a quantitative measure of a level of activity that results in

GHG emissions. Activity data is multiplied by an emission factor

to derive the GHG emissions associated with a process or an

operation.

City refers to geographically discernable subnational entities, such as

communities, townships, cities and neighborhoods.

Climate change is an increase in the average temperature of the earth’s

atmosphere.

Emission is the release of GHGs into the atmosphere.

Emission factor is a factor that converts activity data into GHG emissions

data (e.g. kg CO₂e emitted per liter of fuel consumed, kg CO₂e

emitted per kilometer travelled, etc)

Geographic boundary is a geographic boundary that identifies the spatial

dimensions of the inventory’s assessment boundary. It defines

the physical perimeter separating in-boundary and

transboundary emissions.

Greenhouse gas inventory is a qualified list of a city’s GHG emissions and

sources.

Greenhouse Gases (GHG) are the seven gases covered by the UNFCCC:

carbon dioxide (CO₂); methane (CH₄); nitrous oxide (N₂O);

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hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs); perfluorocarbons (PFCs); sulphur

hexafluoride (SF₆); and nitrogen trifluoride (NF₃)

Greenhouse effect is the warming that results when solar radiation is

trapped by the atmosphere.

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REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

With the global urban population now exceeding 50 percent, the

inhabitants of cities are recognized as a major driver of global greenhouse gas

(GHG) emissions (Satterthwaite, 2008). Moreover, as centers of wealth and

creativity, with high population densities and economies of scale, cities must

play a significant role in tackling global climate change. This is particularly

clear in a political context where goals and actions of groups such as the C40

mayors exceed those of many national governments. As a first step to

addressing climate change many cities have established inventories of GHG

emissions, often using simple pragmatic approach of the International Council

for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI, 2008). Such inventories of urban

GHG emissions provide a basis for action on climate change.

Cities and local governments are seen to have a key role in climate

mitigation (Betsill and Bulkeley, 2006). Climate change concerns local

governments because they carry the main responsibility for providing

infrastructure and services for its citizens. One of the challenges faced by local

governments in the work with municipal climate action plans concerns

accounting for the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions-what emissions should

be targeted, development of emissions overtime, and how to effectively

measure success of local climate action (Fearnside, P.M. 2000).

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Agriculture

Agricultural lands occupy 37% of the earth’s land surface. Agriculture

accounts for 52 and 84% of global anthropogenic methane and nitrous oxide

emissions. Agricultural soils may also act as a sink or source for CO₂, but the

net flux is small. Many agricultural practices can potentially mitigate

greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the most prominent of which are improved

cropland and grazing land management and restoration of degraded lands

and cultivated organic soils. Lower, but still significant mitigation potential is

provided by water and rice-management, set-aside, land use change and

agroforestry, livestock management and manure management. (Smith 2008).

Inventories of methane (CH₄) emissions from ruminants have been

published since 1970s (Ehhalt, 1974). With increasing awareness of the

anthropogenic contribution to climate change, the inventories were stepwise

extended more agricultural sources and sinks as well as to other trace gases

like carbon dioxide (CO₂) and nitrous oxide (N₂O). The complexity of the

applied methodology varies with the aim and scope of the inventory and with

knowledge available about controlling factors and emission rates. Naturally,

this knowledge increases with the period and intensity of research and is

hence greatest for CH₄ from enteric fermentation and ammonia (NH₃), but

limited for N₂O, nitric oxide (NO), volatile organic carbon (VOC) and carbon

sequestration. The most widely used approach to greenhouse gas (GHG)

inventories for agriculture at the national to continental scale relies on

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emission factors, which reduce the complex features of trace gas production,

transport and consumption to a simplified standard situation that can be

described by statistical data (e.g. Heyer, 1994; Chadwick et al, 1999).

A study conducted by Freibauer (2001) developed a detailed

methodology compatible to the Guidelines of the Intergovernmental Panel on

Climate Change (IPCC) to assess the annual direct biogenic emissions of

greenhouse gases (GHG) released from European agriculture. Applying the

methodology, the biogenic GHG emissions from agriculture within the

European Union (EU) and within its Member States are calculated for the

period from 1975 to 1997 at a spatial resolution of regions or federal states

(NUTS 1-2 level). Thus results, in 1995, European agriculture emitted 0.84 ±

0.19 Tg N₂O, 8.1 ± 2.0 Tg CH₄ and 39 Tg ± 25 CO₂, which adds up to 470 ±

80 Tg CO₂-equivalents or 11% of the overall emissions . At the EU level, these

numbers are surprisingly close to the official inventory submitted under the

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). But

compared with the latter, the approach taken here leads to higher agricultural

CH₄ emissions in Austria and Netherlands, at least 20% lower CH₄ emissions

in Denmark, Germany, Greece, Spain and Sweden and higher N₂O emissions

in most EU Member States. In countries with-even small-areas of farmed

organic soils, CO₂ emitted from peat oxidation can significantly contribute to

the overall emissions.

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Solid Waste

Solid waste generally includes degradable (papers, textiles, food

waste, straw, and yard waste), partially degradable (wood, disposable napkins

and sludge) and non-degradable materials (leather, plastics, rubbers, metals,

glass, ash from fuel burning like coal, briquettes or woods, dust and electronic

waste). Generally, solid waste is managed as collection from streets and

disposal at landfills. Anaerobic decomposition of solid waste in landfills

generates about 60% methane (CH₄) and 40% carbon dioxide (CO₂) together

with other trace gases (Hedge et al., 2003).

Waste landfills have been recognized as the large source of

anthropogenic methane emission and an important contributor to global

warming (IPCC, 1996). Methane is regarded as s one of the most important

GHGs because its global warming potential has been estimated to be more

than 20 times than that of carbon dioxide (IPCC, 1996).

Kennedy et al. (2009) used a simplified version of IPCC recommended

approach for estimating the GHG emissions from landfill waste. The ideal aim

would be to calculate the methane emissions for a given year due to decay of

waste placed in landfill during that year and previous years. The IPCC (2006b)

recommends an approach called First Order Decay estimating such emissions

based on the Scholl Canyon model. The data requirements, are, however,

cumbersome, requiring ideally 20 or more years of data for each facility within

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each city, and good estimates of decay coefficients. They undertook a

pragmatic adaptation of the IPCC (1996) approach called Total Yield Gas.

Municipal waste is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas

emissions through decomposition and life-cycle activities processes. The

majority of these emissions are a result of landfilling, which remains the

primary disposal strategy internationally. As a result, countries have been

incorporating alternative forms of waste management strategies such as

energy recovery from landfill gas capture, aerobic landfilling, pre-composting

of waste prior to landfilling, landfill capping and composting of the organic

fraction of municipal solid waste (Lou and Nair , 2008).

Lou and Nair (2008) conducted a study to overview the impact of

landfilling (and its various alternatives) and composting on greenhouse gas

emissions taking into account streamlined life cycles and activities and the

decomposition processes. Mixed results were found for greenhouse gas

emissions for landfill and composting operational activities. In general, net

greenhouse gas emissions for landfills tend to be higher than that for

composting facilities.

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MATERIALS AND METHODS

Research Design

The study will use descriptive research method to get the greenhouse

gas emissions of agriculture and solid waste. Secondary data from the

national, regional or local statistics office (i.e. Bureau of Agricultural Statistics,

local Agriculture Office) and from the concerned unit/division of the LGU (e.g.

Environmental and Natural Resources Office) is to be used also in data

gathering.

Materials and tools

The materials and tools to be used in the study are the following:

Computer system

Computer is an electric devise used to install the Microsoft Excel

software.

Microsoft Excel

This software enables to use the GHG Inventory Quantification Support

Spreadsheet.

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GHG Inventory Quantification Support Spreadsheet

This Spreadsheet has codes or “Macros” which allows to create

repetitive tasks and standardized formats and is used to input the gathered

data.

Community-Level GHG Inventory for Local Government Unit (LGUs) in

the Philippines User’s Manual.

This User’s Manual explains in simple terms, the information required

by the Spreadsheet and provides step-by-step instructions.

Ball pen

Ball pen is to be use to write important data in the datasheets.

Datasheets

This is where data are to be put in before transferring to the

Spreadsheet.

Digital camera

This device is to be used to capture events to be used for

documentation.

Respondents of the Study

The respondents of the study will be the farmers and backyard growers

residing in Bagsak, Brgy. Igpit, Digos City.

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Research Instrument

A survey questionnaire will be used to gather relevant data for the

inventory of agriculture and solid waste greenhouse gas emissions in Bagsak,

Brgy. Igpit, Digos City.

Data Gathering Procedure

The collection of data is to be done through survey. A survey

questionnaire is to be distributed to identified farmers and backyard growers in

Bagsak, Brgy. Igpit, Digos City.

Data Analysis

The data to be gathered in the study will be analyze and interpret using

descriptive analysis such as frequency count and percentage.

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Table 1. Crop production sources at Bagsak, Barangay Igpit, Digos City.

CROP TOTAL NUMBER OF

(RICE, CORN, FARMERS/BACKYARD FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE
ETC) GROWERS

Table 2. Livestock production sources at Bagsak, Barangay Igpit, Digos City.

LIVESTOCK TYPE TOTAL NUMBER OF

(CARABAO, COW, FARMERS/BACKYARD FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE
ETC) GROWERS

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