ASSESSMENT OF CARBON STORAGE AND EROSION USING INVEST MODEL IN VISAKHAPATNAM DISTRICT, ANDHRA PRADESH

Abstract

Human Activities, especially deforestation, agriculture and expanding the industries may impact on depletion of natural resources and contribute to global climate change. Deforestation and expanding the industries have caused a substantial increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2 ) level in the atmosphere. These activities affect on the environment depending on the Terrestrial ecosystem. Remote Sensing data are used for calculating the Terrestrial ecosystem to estimate the increasing and decreasing amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Storage of carbon on land depends on four carbon pools, they are above ground biomass, below ground biomass, soil, and dead organic matter.Using the land use and land cover maps, the InVEST (Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoff) model can estimate the net amount of carbon stored in a land parcel. The outputs of InVEST model can support NGOs, and decisions by governments. The InVEST model result indicates positive values for carbon storage increased where negative values show loss of carbon. -1392299789.91 mg of C loss of carbon during 2011-2014. - 423909045.87 mg of C loss of carbon during 2014-2015. 1512332394.91 mg of C of carbon sequestrated during 2015-2016.