Estimation of carbon stock and emission of community forests in Eastern Amhara, Ethiopia

Abstract

Abstract. Biadgligne A, Gobezie T, Mohammed A, Feleke E. 2022. Estimation of carbon stock and emission of community forests in Eastern Amhara, Ethiopia. Asian J For 6: 74-82. Carbon emission resulting from deforestation and forest degradation contributes to climate change. Halting deforestation is, therefore, one strategy to mitigate the changing climate. As the global carbon market develops, an opportunity to halt deforestation can be contributed by community forests as a win-win solution for climate change mitigation and livelihood provision, yet knowing the carbon stock of the forest is important to enhance the bargaining power of the community to get carbon finance. Thus, a case study was conducted to quantify carbon stocks and emissions from three community forests (i.e., Asha-Guba, Jemely, and Beshilo) in Eastern Amhara, Ethiopia. Stratified systematic sample quadrate methods were used, and a total of 57 equally spaced nested square quadrats were laid for the measurement of carbon density. Carbon pools, including above-ground living biomass, dead wood, surface litter, belowground root biomass, soil organic carbon, and harvested wood product, were accounted for the estimation of site-level carbon density (t ha-1) and carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emission. There was high variability in the estimated mean carbon density and CO2e emission across the three community forests. The highest carbon density was recorded in the Asha-Guba community forest with 124.27 ± 8.29 t ha-1, followed by Jemely and Beshilo forests with 91.24 ± 3.18 t ha-1 and 73.55 ± 3.13 t ha-1, respectively. The largest proportion (59-63%) of carbon was stored in the soil pool, followed by the above-ground biomass (27-32%), while that in dead organic matter was insignificant. The community forests currently stored total carbon stocks of 57,612.14 ± 13.81ton (210,860.43 CO2e). To ensure the sustainable management of the forests, long-term finance and investment must be introduced urgently.

Woody species diversity, composition, structure and carbon storage of a dry evergreen montane forest of Essimingor Nature Forest Reserve in Tanzania

“…The mean above-ground biomass and potential carbon stocks of the forest reserve for trees and shrubs with diameter ≥5cm were 116.19±70.61 Mg ha -1 and 56.93±34.60 Mg C ha -1 respectively, while the mean below-ground biomass and potential carbon stocks of the forest reserve for trees and shrubs with diameter ≥5cm were 70.84±40.24 Mg ha -1 and 34.71±19.72 Mg C ha -1 , respectively (Table 1, Figure 6). Tree species which had high contribution to the observed above-ground carbon density were C. malosana (11.74±3.85 Mg C ha -1 ), D. natalensis (10.12±4.60 Mg C ha -1 ), D. abyssinica (6.50±2.73 Mg C ha In contrast, the total mean aboveground carbon stocks found in this study is higher than that reported by Mwaluseke (2015) from a dry evergreen forest of Lendikinya Forest Reserve in Tanzania who reported a value of 16.04±7.7 t C ha -1 ; Biadgligne et al (2022) reported two values of 14.84±1.27 t C ha -1 and 3.49±0.66 t C ha -1 from two community forests from Ethiopia; Solomon et al (2017) The high value reported by several authors could be due to differences in climatic conditions of these sites in terms of rainfall received and the presence of many large trees which had significant contribution to the total mean carbon density than the presence of many small trees reported in this study (Mauya and Madundo 2021). According to Mauya and Madundo (2021) climate, topography as well as estimation methods particularly the selection of allometric models is also key factors when it comes to accurate estimation of AGB and AGC in the different study sites.…”

“…The role of forest ecosystems in the conservation of soil, water and biodiversity and in mitigating climate change is well acknowledged (Burgess et al 2007;Pan et al 2011;Lewis et al 2013;Ashagre et al 2014;Spracklen and Righelato 2014;Apguaua et al 2015;Kacholi et al 2015;Mauya et al 2019;Kendie et al 2021;Biadgligne et al 2022;Nugroho et al 2022;Rawal and Subedi 2022). Forests contain most of the terrestrial biodiversity and are estimated to store about 289 Gt of biomass carbon (Apguaua et al 2015;FAO 2022).…”

“…Despite their potential, forest ecosystems are threatened by anthropogenic activities, mainly from deforestation and forest degradation (Hansen et al 2013;Kideghesho 2015;Doggart et al 2020;Biadgligne et al 2022). Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) (2020) estimated that between 1990 and 2020, around 420 million ha of forest had been deforested and converted to other land uses.…”

“…More specifically, about 10 million ha of forest were lost per year between 2015-2020. Studies have indicated that deforestation contributes to 18-20% of Anthropogenic Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) emissions globally (Baccini et al 2012;Biadgligne et al 2022). About 20% of GHGs emission is caused by deforestation from Africa (Leon et al 2022).…”

Tree carbon stock analysis in education forest KHDTK Wanadipa UNDIP, Semarang

“…In addition, it can be used as a basis for buying and selling carbon stocks (Komul et al, 2016). According to Biadgligne (2022), the increasing interest in carbon trading today can provide opportunities for better forest management. This can be used as a solution for mitigating climate change and providing livelihoods for forest-based communities.…”