CO2 and CH4 Emission from Domestic Fuel and Livestock Keeping in Tarai and Bhawar in Nepal: A Household-level Analysis

Abstract

The CO2 and CH4 are the major components of greenhouse gases and their quantification is essential to address the issues of Climate Change. The research objective is to assess the CO2 and CH4 emissions produced from domestic fuel consumption and livestock
keeping respectively in Tarai (plain area) and Bhawar (foothills) and also evaluate and explore their management options. Two villages of Mahottari district were selected and altogether 138 households were sampled randomly after well-being rankings given as rich, medium and poor. The quantity of fuel consumption was recorded in the morning and evening for seven days during summer and winter seasons. The collected samples of fuel were dried in the laboratory. Moreover, a record of cattle keeping was taken from a participatory rural appraisal. Information on CH4 emission management was gathered from experts and literature. The dry weight of fuel was converted into C and latter into CO2 while CH4 emission was calculated by using factors of IPCC. The estimated CO2 and CH4 emission were 14027.94 t and 318.24 t respectively which together can emit 21347.45 tCO2 but managing CH4 through installing biogas plants have the potential to reduce the gasses to about 9514.27 tCO2 which can offer US$ 47568.35 of certified emission reduction in two villages.