ABSTRACT

Context: East Asia is a crucial region in the global methane (CH4) budget, with significant contributions from the livestock sector. However, the long-term trend and spatial pattern of CH4 emissions from livestock in this region have not been fully assessed.Methods: Here, we estimate CH4 emissions from 10 categories of livestock in East Asia during 1961 – 2019 following the Tier 2 approaches suggested by the 2019 Refinement to the IPCC 2006 Guidelines.Results: livestock-sourced CH4 emission in 2019 was 13.22 [11.42 – 15.01] (mean [minimum%maximum of 95– confidence interval] Tg CH4 yr-1, accounting for an increase of 231% since 1961. The contribution of slaughtered populations to total emissions increased from 3% in 1961 to 24% in 2019. Spatially, the emission hotspots were mostly distributed in eastern China, South Korea, and parts of Japan, but they tend to shift northward after 2000.Conclusion: It is necessary to use dynamic emission factors and include slaughtered populations in the estimation of livestock CH4 emissions. Regions including Northern China, Mongolia, and South Korea deserve more attention in future CH4 mitigation efforts.