COMPARISON OF THE POTENTIAL OF DIFFERENT WATERSHED MANAGEMENT OPERATION IN CARBON SEQUESTRATION OF MOUNTAINOUS RANGELANDS, CASE STUDY RAZIN WATERSHED, WEST OF IRAN
YAHYA PARVIZI *
Soil Conservation and Watershed Management Department, Agriculture and Natural Resources Research Center, Kermanshah, Iran.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Land carbon stock is the main carbon sink in carbon cycle and carbon sequestration in the land resource is the main hope to mitigate climate change. This research was conducted to evaluate the carbon sequestration capacity of rangeland management in mountainous rangeland in Zagros area in west of Iran. For this study, ten experimental sites in three provinces were selected. Then, rangeland management practices effects on carbon sequestration were analyzed and while prioritizing reviewed projects, proper projects for every management were recommended. Results indicated that operations including seeding, mass plantation, graze management and preservation can accordingly sequester 40.3, 77.4, 11 and 61.9 tons of carbon per hectare.
Keywords: Climate change, carbon sequestration, grazing management, preservation