Economic valuation of carbon sequestration in dam lakes of Chuman and Kani Goizhan and their water transfer systems in Kordestan province

An attempt to estimate the real value of a set of environmental goods and services, particularly forests are needed that at present, various pressures from economic incentives and goals have been the basis for their destruction and deterioration. Therefore, this study tries to investigate the amount of degradation of vegetation and fixed organic carbon per hectare and its value with social cost approach in the Chuman and Kani Goizhan Dams and the water transfer system between them, as part of study of environmental impact assessment. In this study, sampling was done by random block method. 18 pieces of sample with size of 20 × 60 meters were taken in Chuman and Kani Goizhan and for the water transfer system, 8 pieces of 10 × 60 meters sample were harvested. Empirical formula were used to estimate carbon storage and sequestration based on dry biomass of trees. The results showed that the amount of carbon sequestration in Chuman and Kani Goizhan and the water transfer system between two regions were 0.336, 0.37 and 0.44 ton /hectare/year, respectively. Considering 132.12 dollars per tons of carbon sequestration, as social cost of 2015 year, the carbon sequestration value of each section is estimated to be 44.39, 48.88 and 58.13 dollars/ hectare/year respectively. In general, it can be said that the value of the dam damage is 45418.89 dollars annually due to the destruction of forests and lack of carbon absorption and sequestration (about 343.67 tons per year) in the study area with 852.41 hectares, which should at least be offset by creating suitable forests in suitable areas with appropriate species selection.