ASSESMENT OF CARBON BALANCE CHANGE OF THE YAROSLAVL REGION AS A RESULT OF LAND USE TRANSFORMATION

Abstract

Land use change is an important factor to consider in carbon emissions estimates, and quantification of changes in carbon flows and stocks in the “Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry” sector is largely less reliable than emissions’ assessments from stationary sources and transport. The purpose of the research is to test the methodology for regional assessment of carbon stocks of ecosystems and their transformation under the land use/land cover change (based on the example of the Yaroslavl region). We used available European Space Agency spatial land cover data and publications on carbon density of major reservoirs of terrestrial ecosystems. Calculations were carried out in InVEST, ArcGIS, MS Excel. It was revealed that for 1992–2019 changes in land cover affected 6.8% of the region’s area. About 337.4 million tons of carbon were accumulated in the ecosystems of the Yaroslavl region, the dynamics of reserves is positive, which is explained by an increase in the areas of forests and wetlands. About 73% of the total carbon reserves are accumulated in forest ecosystems, about 20% – in arable lands, pastures and meadows, 5% – in swamps. Trends in land use change and carbon stock dynamics within land cover classes/ecosystem types should be taken into account for developing regional-level recommendations for ecosystem management to reduce emissions and increase carbon sequestration.

Keywords

• carbon stock
• russia
• greenhouse gases
• netto-emissions
• climate change
• invest
• low-carbon