A GIS-based approach for estimating land use related carbon emissions — A case study in Henan Province

Due to the important role land use behaviors play in carbon emissions, research on land use related carbon emissions has gradually become an academic focus in recent years. However, few studies have been done on the comprehensive land use related carbon emissions at the provincial level, including both carbon emissions from the natural ecosystems caused by land cover changes and carbon emissions from anthropogenic sources carried by different land use types. This paper proposed a GIS based method for estimating comprehensive land use related carbon emissions. After that, application of this method was conducted with relevant data of Henan Province. The results proved this method to be feasible, and it was found that land use behaviors on urbanized land were responsible for more than 90% of the total carbon emissions of Henan Province in 2010.