Global warming: Blame South Sudan?

one of the major sources of methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming, is methane, produced by rotting vegetation.

One major source in Asia is from the traditional way to kill weeds in rice paddies: which is the source of perhaps 30 percent of methane emissions. By flooding the field and then plowing the weeds under several times before you plant the rice seedlings.Full discussion here. and here link 2.

so the local gov't rice institute here in the Philippines is working with us to start intermittent dry and wet cultivation of rice to decrease methane emissions. PDF.

The good news: one of the under reported stories of the modern world is how the "green revolution" increased the yield of rice fields.

Wet Dry cultivation methods can allow farmers to get similar yields but the bad news about "wet dry" cultivation is that although it produced less methane, it produced more Nitrous oxide, which is also a greenhouse gas. LINK

So where does the Sudan come into this?

Well, methane is not just produced by flooded rice paddies, but also from swamps.

And right now, an increase in rain has caused the lakes and wetlands in South Sudan to increase in size, and emit methane.

BBC report.

Scientists think they can now explain at least part of the recent growth in methane (CH4) levels in the atmosphere. Researchers, led from Edinburgh University, UK, say their studies point to a big jump in emissions coming from just the wetlands of South Sudan.

Satellite data indicates the region received a large surge of water from East African lakes, including Victoria. This would have boosted CH4 from the wetlands, accounting for a significant part of the rise in global methane. Perhaps even up to a third of the growth seen in the period 2010-2016, when considered with East Africa as a whole.