A study on the effects of Hyrcanian deforestation on greenhouse gases emission in Golestan province.

Forest ecosystems provide a wide range of multiple ecosystem services (ESs) that are important for sustaining life on earth and maintaining the integrity of the ecosystems. One of the most important forest ESs is climate regulation. On one hand, carbon accumulates through growth of trees into the forest resources and on the other hand, land use/land cover (LULC) change activities impact on carbon reserves. Due to the ongoing Hyrcanian deforestation, in this study, we focused on how different LU change affect greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions in Golestan province based on REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) project. Four carbon pools include above-ground, below-ground, litter and soil organic carbon provided based on the results of reviewing 31 internal studies and IPCC reports. For predict the rate of deforestation by 2047 year under the baseline scenario, the Markov Chain was used. With the implementation of the base scenario, the CO₂emission was estimated at 43655472 tons by 2047. The conversion of forests to other LULC types because of the fire is an important source of other GHGs emissions such as CH₄ and N₂O. Forest fire information of Golestan province indicates that since the year 2011 to 2018, 1511 fires have occurred. The results showed that fire would emit 16083.51 tCO2e of GHGs (CH₄ and N₂O) by the year 2047. So that the highest emission rates of CO2 was 17 million tons occurred in Marave-Tappeh township. The results of this study showed that Hyrcanian forests have an important role in reducing GHGs emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]