Estimating and valuing the carbon release in scenarios of land-use and climate changes in a Brazilian coastal area.

Deforestation is a significant source of man-made carbon in the atmosphere, contributing to the greenhouse gas (GHG) effect. Although carbon releases are associated to the ecosystem functions of climate regulation and are essential ecological processes that sustain life, their incremental economic impact is difficult to estimate. Using the InVEST model, this work quantifies and assesses the value of the carbon balance generated by predictive land-use change (LUC) scenarios for the Northern Coast of São Paulo State, Brazil.