Inventory of Greenhouse Gas Emissions for Phayao Province - an Agricultural City in Thailand

Greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation is one of the major challenges that all countries face. The impacts of GHG emissions cost people and ecosystem everywhere. Hence, it is the responsibility of all parties to tackle this serious problem. For instance, Thailand has agreed to decrease GHG emissions by 20 % from the projected business-as-usual (BAU) level by 2030 despite no commitment to target GHG emissions reduction. As a part of the contribution, this study aimed at preparing a GHG emissions inventory (EI) from the main pollution sources in Phayao province located in the North of Thailand. We investigated annual amount of GHG emissions by using a bottom-up approach. Both primary data from field survey and secondary data from governmental agencies in Thailand were employed in our analysis. From the preliminary study, Phayao’s economy depends on agriculture, like other ASEAN countries. The major sources of GHG generation comprised of rice cultivation, open burning (including crop residue burning and forest fire), road transportation, industry, and livestock (from enteric fermentation and manure management). GHG emissions from rice fields, open burning, road transportation, industry, and livestock were estimated to be 773,325; 1,819,225; 195,497; 4,625 and 133,830 t CO2-eq. Approximately 89 % of GHG emissions were emitted from agricultural sector (biomass open burning and rice cultivation). The results of this study suggest that the proper and effective measures for mitigating GHG emissions from agricultural ecosystems is the first priority to emphasise.