Methane emission from rice field and mitigation options -Winter School on Impact of Climate Change on Indian Marine Fisheries held at CMFRI, Cochin 18.1.2008 to 7.2.2008

Methane gas is a valuable energy resource and the leading anthropogenic contributor to global warming after carbon dioxide. Methane accounts for 17 percent of the enhanced greenhouse effect (IPCC, 1996). Over the last two centuries, methane’s concentration in the atmosphere has more than doubled from about 700 parts per billion by volume (ppbv) in pre-industrial times to 1,730 ppbv in 1997 (IPCC, 1996). The global tropospheric CH4 growth rate averaged over the period 1992 through 1998 is about 4.9 ppb per year, corresponding to an average annual increase in atmospheric burden of 14 Tg