Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Availability

Open Access Thesis

Keywords

Carbon sequestration--Ecuador; Riparian restoration--Ecuador;

Abstract

Carbon sequestration supported by carbon pricing and carbon offset programs has the potential to mitigate the risks associated with environmental change. Riparian-zone restoration, beyond enriching degraded ecosystems, promotes carbon sequestration. With that premise, this study aims to estimate and compare how much carbon is captured and stored using six riparian-zone restoration scenarios for the Northwestern part of the Pichincha Province in Ecuador and the economic value of the respective carbon. The InVEST Carbon Storage and Carbon Sequestration Model which integrates land cover maps, carbon pools, and economic value of carbon in currency units was used to quantify the amount of carbon sequestered after restoration and its economic value. The six restoration scenarios were established by tracing two corridors (1 and 2) in three different widths: 60m, 90m and 120m along waterways. With a higher number of pixels converted into forest due to the region’s land use map and carbon density pool, the proposed corridor 1 derived scenarios restored a larger area than their corridor 2 counterparts and also presented higher values as results when looking at carbon sequestration and financial return (economic value). By participating in the UN-REDD program, Ecuador is able to receive payments (through carbon pricing and carbon offset programs) for promoting conservation which have the potential to contribute to local livelihoods as financial capital. Considering its limitations (such as the assumption that the amount of carbon will only change if there is a change in land use class) the InVEST Carbon Model showed itself to be a reliable to tool to quantify carbon sequestration and its economic value.

Year of Submission

2021

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Department of Geography

First Advisor

James Dietrich, Chair

Date Original

7-2021

Object Description

1 PDF file (vii, 47 pages)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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