Benchmark carbon stocks from old-growth forests in northern New England, USA

Anthropogenic activities such as logging or forest conversion into agricultural lands are affecting Ecuadorian Amazon forests. To foster private and communal conservation activities an economic incentive-based conservation program (IFC) called Socio Bosque was established. Existing analyses related to conservation strategies are mainly focused on deforestation; while degradation and the role of IFC to safeguard ecosystem services are still scarce. Further on, there is a lack of landscape-level studies taking into account potential side effects of IFC on different forest types. Therefore we assessed ecosystem services (carbon stocks, timber volume) and species richness in landscapes with and without IFC. Additionally, we evaluated potential side-effects of IFC in adjacent forest types; hypothesizing potential leakage effects of IFC. Finally, we tested if deforestation rates decreased after IFC implementation. Forest inventories were conducted in 72 plots across eight landscapes in the Ecuadorian Central Amazon with and without IFC. Plots were randomly selected within three forest types (old-growth, logged and successional forests). In each plot all individuals with a diameter at breast height greater than 10 cm were measured. Old-growth forests in general showed higher carbon stocks, timber volume and species richness, and no significant differences between old-growth forests in IFC and non-IFC landscapes were found. Logged forests had 32% less above-ground carbon (AGC) and timber volume in comparison to old-growth forests. Surprisingly, logged forests near IFC presented higher AGC stocks than logged forests in non-IFC landscapes, indicating positive side-effects of IFC. Successional forests contain 56% to 64% of AGC, total carbon and timber volume, in comparison to old-growth forests, and 82% to 87% in comparison to logged forests. Therefore, successional forests could play an important role for restoration and should receive more attention in national climate change policies. Finally, after IFC implementation deforestation rate decreased on parish level. Our study presents scientific evidence of IFC contribution to conserving ecosystem services and species richness. In addition IFC could help indirectly to reduce degradation effects attributed to logging, indicating potential compatibility of conservation aims with forest activities at a landscape level.

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The Importance of the Market Area Determination for Estimating Aggregate Benefits of Public Goods: Testing Differences in Resident and Nonresident Willingness to Pay

Agricultural and Resource Economics Review ◽

10.1017/s1068280500007826 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 25 (2) ◽

pp. 161-170 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

John B. Loomis ◽

Armando Gonzalez-Caban

Keyword(s):

Willingness To Pay ◽

Public Goods ◽

New England ◽

Market Area ◽

Old Growth ◽

The Public ◽

Old Growth Forests ◽

Goods Market ◽

Survey Sample

A combined telephone contact-mail booklet-telephone interview of California and New England households regarding their willingness to pay for fire management in California and Oregon's old-growth forests was performed to test hypotheses regarding the spatial extent of the public goods market. Using a multiple-bounded contingent valuation question, the study found that New England households' annual willingness to pay for the California and Oregon programs was statistically different from zero. This analysis points out that households receive benefits from fire protection of old-growth forests in states other than their own. In this case study, limiting the survey sample to state residents where the National Forest is located would reflect about 20% of the national benefits. However, using resident values as a proxy for nonresidents would overstate the national benefits by 75%, since the values per household are significantly different. This finding suggests more emphasis in future surveys on selecting an institutionally and economically relevant sample frame rather than an expedient one.

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Aboveground carbon stocks in Madagascar’s vanilla production landscape – exploring rehabilitation through agroforestry in the light of land-use history

10.32942/osf.io/f7crk ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Soazafy Marie Rolande ◽

Kristina Osen ◽

Annemarie Wurz ◽

Estelle Raveloaritiana ◽

Dominic A. Martin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Management Practices ◽

Plant Biomass ◽

Geographic Origin ◽

Carbon Stocks ◽

Land Use History ◽

Stem Density ◽

Old Growth ◽

Aboveground Carbon ◽

Old Growth Forests

Forests and tree-dominated land uses store large amounts of carbon stocks in plant biomass. However, anthropogenic changes in land use and land cover decrease tree cover and associated carbon stocks. Agroforestry has the potential to maintain or restore carbon in plant biomass but the amount will be influenced by various factors that may include land-use history and management practices. However, few studies explicitly address how these factors determine aboveground carbon stocks. Therefore, our study estimates aboveground carbon stocks in different land-use types, across stem diameters and geographic origin of tree species, and its structural controls. We particularly focus on the importance of land-use history in agroforestry systems. We conducted the study in the mosaic landscape of north-eastern Madagascar in old-growth forests, forest fragments, woody fallows, and vanilla agroforests. The agroforests differed in land-use history and were either directly derived from forest or derived from woody fallows after slash-and-burn shifting cultivation. Aboveground carbon stocks were highest in old-growth forests and lowest in woody fallows. Within vanilla agroforests, aboveground carbon stocks were highly variable: forest-derived agroforests stored significantly higher carbon stocks that were mainly stored in native and endemic species, whereas fallow-derived agroforests stored lower carbon stocks that were mainly provided by introduced species. Furthermore, aboveground carbon stocks were mainly controlled by stem density and stem diameter. In conclusion, forest-derived agroforests have the potential to maintain relatively high carbon stocks and a forest-like structure in the landscape, whereas fallow-derived agroforests contribute to convert historically forested open land into permanent tree-dominated land-use systems, thereby restoring carbon stocks. Thus, considering the land-use history of agroforests is important for conservation and restoration agendas.

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