Mapping drivers of climate change: Carbon budget index for Mauritius

Climate change has been a burning issue since quite a long time and its effects can be perceived around the world. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the main driver of climate change among other greenhouse gases (GHGs). Despite increasing emissions, CO2 is fortunately also absorbed or sequestered by plants and other biotic media which form the carbon sinks. These sinks have been diminishing, for instance due to deforestation. Therefore no effort should be spared to assess CO2 emissions and sequestrations. In this paper, we down-scaled the conventional Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) methods, to calculate CO2 emissions and removals, and we developed a carbon budget index as a case study for Mauritius. Emissions and sequestrations for different land categories (ecosystems) have been assessed for each district. The index revealed important carbon sinks and emission sources from the mappings. Index values for districts ranged from −1.988 metric tonnes (−1998 kg) of CO2 per km2 to over 288 metric tonnes (288,000 kg) of CO2 km−2. Negative values indicated areas that were net carbon sinks where more carbon was sequestered than emitted. The index can be used to measure national or regional achievements in meeting set targets to reduce emissions. In the context of the Millennium Developments Goals (MDGs), we found that some areas were above the target of 1.4 tonnes per capita for reducing CO2 emissions.