Estimation of Aboveground Biomass Carbon Sequestration Potential in Rangeland Ecosystems of Iran

Ongoing climate change has been a major global challenge since the1880s. Sequestration of carbon (C) in rangelands ecosystems could providea net carbon sink to offset increases in atmospheric C in global scale. This research is aimed at estimating the above-ground biomass carbon sequestration potential in Iran. For this purpose, total rangelands area and productivity data were extracted from annual reports of Agriculture Statistical Pocketbook (2006-2013) of the country. Then, productivity data was used to to calculate above-ground C storage per province. The maximum and minimum rangeland area were observed in Sistan and Baluchestan and Mazandaran (Nowshahr) provinces, respectively. Maximum aboveground biomass C storage was about 1.07 Mg C ha-1y-1was observed in Fars province. The minimum amount was occurred in Qom provinces with only 0.023 Mg C ha-1 y-1. In summary, mean carbon CO2 fixation was about 0.25 Mg C ha-1 y-1 in Iran’s rangelands from 2003 to 2013. Considering total rangeland area of the country (≈ 84.8 million hectare) and the productivity, 11770.011 Gg C y-1 carbon has been stored in aboveground biomass annually providing at least 5885 Gg organic C sequestration potential.