LOCAL-LEVEL AGRICULTURAL GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS IN POLAND

Agriculture in Poland is the source of 7.7% of national GHG emissions. Effective mitigation in agriculture and adaptation to climate change requires identification of size and structure of emission from this sector not only at national and regional level, but also locally. Therefore, we are the first to estimate the size of the carbon footprint from agriculture and present its statistical analyses and spatial distribution for all Polish communes (LAU level 2). We propose a solution that can be successfully applied using almost exclusively data available in public statistics. The annual value of the carbon footprint from agriculture in Polish communes varies from 0.01 to 289.48 thousand Mg CO(2)eq, with a mean value of 13.85 thousand Mg CO(2)eq and a standard deviation of 14.96 thousand Mg CO(2)eq. The intensive animal production concentrated in the central, northern and northeastern parts of Poland means that the communes located in these areas are characterized by high emissions from enteric fermentation and animal faeces. The communes with large areas of organic soils and former State Agricultural Farm are characterized by high GHG emissions from agricultural land use. The obtained results should facilitate the planning and prioritisation of measures to reduce GHG emissions from agriculture.