Development of an afforestation program for carbon deposition on the territory of St. Petersburg for adaptation to climate change

Abstract

Most of the agricultural lands located on the territory of St. Petersburg are abandoned and are not used for their intended purpose. Farming within the city may be accompanied by risk from the point of view of agriculture, since anthropogenic pressure will be exerted on agricultural crops. The forest biogeocenosis is more adapted to the urban habitat, as it is less demanding to the growing conditions. The transfer of these territories to the category of forest fund lands will allow the creation of additional recreational zones on the territory of St. Petersburg, and will also open up the possibility of implementing forest-climatic projects on them for the purpose of afforestation, which can contribute to the implementation of the state program to achieve carbon neutrality goals. This paper presents a map of the location of all agricultural lands in three categories of condition, as well as information about their areas. The purpose of this study was to develop an afforestation program for carbon deposition for two scenarios. The first one involves settlements only on abandoned agricultural lands, and the second one additionally includes agricultural lands that are currently being used for infrastructure facilities. Calculations were made on the example of a mixed stand with a predominance of spruce, since a mixed stand is more resistant to the effects of external factors, both natural and anthropogenic. The paper describes a method for calculating changes in carbon stocks during afforestation for pools of biomass, dead wood, litter and soil. The results of the calculations were the quantitative determination of additional carbon units, as well as carbon reserves and budget during the implementation of the project under two scenarios.