ESTIMATING CARBON EMISSIONS RESULTING FROM LAND USE CHANGES AT GLOBAL AND REGIONAL LEVELS IN FOREIGN RESEARCH
N.N. ALEKSEEVA, A.I. BANCHEVA, YU.S. GRINFELDT, L.A. PETROV, D.A. TRETYACHENKO
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
Keywords: land cover change, above-ground biomass, carbon balance, carbon stocks, bibliometric analysis, review of regional studies
Abstract
The purpose of the article is to summarize approaches and methods used abroad for estimating carbon emissions resulting from land use changes on global and regional levels. To understand the place of this topic in modern geoecology, an analysis of bibliometric indicators was carried out based on the Scopus аbstrаct and citation database. There has been a significant increase in publications on the research results of carbon emissions and removals under the influence of land use in the world since the early 2000s with over 200 articles published per year currently. The leading countries in terms of publication activity include China, the USA, Germany, Great Britain and Brazil, with the Chinese Academy of Sciences being the leader among organizations. The present-day research of carbon balance changes under the impact of land use change is based on the land cover change detection in the spatiotemporal aspect using advanced geoinformation technologies, and on modeling of carbon fluxes through the use of precise data consistent with the approaches 2-3 of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change methodology. It has been established that most of the studies by leading scientific centers have common algorithm and stages. The article provides a description of these stages, namely the methods and specific tools used, as well as identifies their advantages and disadvantages. The general research algorithm includes, at the first stage, an assessment of the dynamics of land use/land cover change for different time spans, then carbon balance modeling as a result of land use changes, and development of regional policy measures on this basis. National peculiarities in application of methods and initial data are also revealed (cases of China, Brazil, etc.). It is concluded that it is necessary to further improve methods in the field of accuracy of land use/land cover classifications and timeliness of detecting its dynamics, as well as carbon stocks assessment. These factors determine the specific practical actions in the field of regional planning and the offset measures development under the climate policy.
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