Assessing carbon storage and economic valuation of stocked carbon function based on land use/land cover using the InVEST model

Background: Forests are crucial for countering climate change as they store and sequester CO2 from the atmosphere. This study aimed to prepare a detailed cost estimate and evaluate the cost efficiency of forest carbon storage within the Karkheh National Park and Karkheh Protected Area in southwestern Iran. Methods: Carbon storage was assessed using the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) model based on land-use/land-cover (LULC) datasets from 2021. The economic valuation of the stored carbon function was performed using the replacement cost method. As Populus euphratica and Tamarix forests are the dominant LULC types in Karkheh National Park and Karkheh Protected Area, the highest carbon storage capacity in these areas was determined based on modelling outputs. Results: The results indicated that the mean amounts of stored carbon were 2.9 t/ha in Karkheh Protected Area and 3.5 t/ha in Karkheh National Park. The total economic values of carbon sequestration in Karkheh National Park and Karkheh Protected Area were US$4.04 million and US$3.26 million, respectively. Furthermore, the estimated total value of the ecosystem service of carbon sequestration in Karkheh National Park and Karkheh Protected Area was US$7.3 million. Conclusion: Valuing carbon stocks can be particularly effective for ecosystem services in protected areas. One problem in environmental planning is the lack of attention to carbon sequestration, which has led to the neglect of greenhouse gas emissions and their increasing rate.