Methane is emitted from a range of anthropogenic sources like landfills, agriculture, and fossil fuels, as well as natural systems like wetlands.
It is the second most important greenhouse gas that humans are contributing to.
Since pre-industrial times, increases in atmospheric methane have contributed to a quarter of the climate-warming effect from greenhouse gases.
But unlike carbon dioxide, methane has a shorter lifetime in the atmosphere.
If big changes are brought in our emissions, methane can be removed relatively quickly.
Recently international team of scientists has published an update on the global methane budget as part of the Global Carbon Project.
They estimated annual global methane emissions at nearly 570 million tons for the 2008 to 2017 decade which is 5% higher than emissions recorded in the early 2000s.
It estimated that wetlands made up for the largest natural source of methane and other sources like agriculture, waste and fossil fuels contributed to 60%.
Wetlands are estimated to make up 20% to 30% of the global methane budget, but emissions vary by latitude.
The fluxes are larger in the tropics than in the high latitudes and temperate zones.
