Carbon Budget and Land Use Change in Georgia

Changes in land use affect the terrestrial carbon balance. Quantifying the effect is a complicated task and much attention has been focused on trying to minimize the uncertainties by use of, for example, long term forest inventories. These activities have mainly taken place in the Western world, and the carbon dynamics for large parts of the world are more uncertain. Furthermore, the temperate forests are believed to be carbon sinks, but the relationship between land use change and sink magnitude is yet to investigated in many areas. This issue deserves special attention in the Black Sea region that has experienced significant political and economic change over the last decades. This study quantifies the effect of land use change on the terrestrial carbon budget in Georgia. We are able to translate the changes in land use and forest harvest into carbon dynamics using a carbon accounting model. The rates of change in land use and forest harvest is gathered from historic records of forest inventories. To verify these rates and to more accurately assess land cover change between 1990 and the present, satellite data from Landsat 5 and 7 were analyzed. Prognostic and diagnostic results of carbon sink strength for the area in question are given.