ABSTRACT

Climate change caused by an increase in atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs) is predicted to cause catastrophic impacts on our planet (IPCC, 2006). This provides the impetus to take action to reduce emissions and increase removal of GHGs from the atmosphere.The soil is both a significant source and sink for the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O). As the global warming potential of N2O and CH4 is 298 and 25 times greater, respectively, than the equivalent mass of CO2 in the atmosphere (Forster et al, 2007), small reductions in their emissions could potentially provide significant benefits for the environment.