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SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE IN LATVIA: AN ASSESSMENT OF GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS AND FARMING STRUCTURE
Abstract
The European Union (EU) climate objectives rely on sustainable agriculture. This research assesses greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and key agricultural indicators in Latvia from 2020 to 2022. This research aims to assess the developmental trends of agricultural GHG emissions and farming indicators in Latvia to identify strategies or future investigations necessary to mitigate GHG emissions and enhance sustainability. In Latvia, agriculture accounted for 21-22% of total GHG emissions in carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalents from 2020 to 2023, where total GHG emissions decreased from 10,507 thousand tons in 2020 to 9,981 thousand tons in 2023, in CO2 equivalents. Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions were the most common in agriculture, accounting for 49% (1,115 kt CO2 equivalent) in 2022, followed by methane (CH4) at 47%. Despite livestock showing significant declines, dairy cows decreased by 12% from 136,035 to 119,042 between 2020 and 2023, while cattle overall decreased by only 8% from 398,989 to 368,057. The number of sheep and pigs in Latvia decreased by 15% and 5%, respectively, while the number of poultry increased by 1%. The GHG emissions from agriculture remained virtually unchanged. The amount of agricultural land area increased by 11% to 1,883,286 hectares in 2023. The increased land use for agriculture, combined with a decline in livestock numbers, resulted in a significant decrease in cattle density. This highlights the need for future evaluation of the reasons and methodology applied to Latvia's GHG emissions in the agricultural sector, to determine what other factors contributed to the unchanged GHG levels, and to identify further reduction possibilities for emissions.
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