Urban forest carbon stock and biodiversity assesment at Nagan Raya Regency

Urban forest at Nagan Raya Regency is located in the central government and becomes a green open space that provides many benefits both directly and indirectly for the entire community in the region. Nagan Raya urban forest has various types of trees that usually found in low land mineral soil, such as Vitex pubescens locally known as Mane and Artocarpus blumei locally known as Tarap. Besides, the urban forest of nagan raya has become the habitat of several species of primates, reptiles and birds. In order to calculate the carbon stock of Nagan Raya urban forest, we use the “carbon calculator” tool developed by Michigan State University. By using nested plot of 5 m x 5 m for pile (small tree) category; 10 m x 10 m plot for pole (medium tree) category and 20 m x 20 m plot for tree category. With 12 total plots that are systematically spread throughout Nagan Raya urban forest. Averagely, carbon stock at Nagan Raya urban forest is 353,72 tCha-1. Naturally, trees in the climax condition tend to have less increment and will rotten. We suggest that maintenance and replanting of Nagan Raya urban forest is necessary to replace plants that have entered the category of “old” or low increment with made regeneration types to optimize the function of Nagan Raya urban forest as one of the buffer systems for the urban community.

Large carbon sink potential of secondary forests in the Brazilian Amazon to mitigate climate change

Tropical secondary forests sequester carbon up to 20 times faster than old-growth forests. This rate does not capture spatial regrowth patterns due to environmental and disturbance drivers. Here we quantify the influence of such drivers on the rate and spatial patterns of regrowth in the Brazilian Amazon using satellite data. Carbon sequestration rates of young secondary forests (<20 years) in the west are ~60% higher (3.0 ± 1.0 Mg C ha−1 yr−1) compared to those in the east (1.3 ± 0.3 Mg C ha−1 yr−1). Disturbances reduce regrowth rates by 8–55%. The 2017 secondary forest carbon stock, of 294 Tg C, could be 8% higher by avoiding fires and repeated deforestation. Maintaining the 2017 secondary forest area has the potential to accumulate ~19.0 Tg C yr−1 until 2030, contributing ~5.5% to Brazil’s 2030 net emissions reduction target. Implementing legal mechanisms to protect and expand secondary forests whilst supporting old-growth conservation is, therefore, key to realising their potential as a nature-based climate solution.

Aboveground forest carbon stock in protected area: A case study of Bukit Tigapuluh National Park, Indonesia

Background: At present, the role of protected areas has been expanded into climate change mitigation action, specifically on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+). Reliable and practical method for measuring, reporting and verifying carbon stock is an essential component for REDD+. This study aims at recognizing the characteristic and estimating aboveground forest carbon stock in the tropical protected area using a combination of terrestrial forest inventory and spatial data. Results: In the study area of Bukit Tigapuluh National Park in Central Sumatra, 168 cluster plots totaling 33.6 hectares were taken proportionally based on the percentage of forest cover types (dryland primary natural forest/DPF and dryland secondary natural forest/DSF) using a traditional forest inventory method (more than 5 cm dbh) in combination with the application of information technology. Results showed that Bukit Tigapuluh National Park secured a significant aboveground forest carbon stock which has been estimated to be 269.2 + 22.2 tC/ha or 35,823,639 + 2,951,071 tC in total, being sequestered in approximately 133,051 hectares of tropical rain forest. This result was higher than other studies located in non-protected areas, but slightly lower than other studies within protected area.Conclusion: This finding supported the argument that protected areas possess higher figure of aboveground carbon stock compared to other forest management units. High amount of forest carbon biomass in the protected areas shall be very important assets for conducting the role of conservation for REDD+.

Estimation of Future Changes in Aboveground Forest Carbon Stock in Romania. A Prediction Based on Forest-Cover Pattern Scenario

The aboveground forest biomass plays a key role in the global carbon cycle and is considered a large and constant carbon reservoir. Hence, exploring the future potential changes in forest-cover pattern can help to estimate the trend of forest biomass and therefore, carbon stock in a certain area. As a result, the present paper attempts to model the potential changes in aboveground forest carbon stock based on the forest-cover pattern scenario simulated for 2050. Specifically, the resulting aboveground forest biomass, estimated for 2015 using the allometric equation based on diameter at breast height and the estimated forest density, was used as baseline data in the present approach. These spatial data were integrated into the forest-cover pattern scenario, predicted by using a spatially explicit model, i.e., the Conversion of Land Use and its Effects at Small regional extent (CLUE-S), in order to estimate the potential variation of aboveground forest carbon stock. Our results suggest an overall increase by approximately 4% in the aboveground forest carbon stock until 2050 in Romania. However, important differences in the forest-cover pattern change were predicted on the regional scale, thus highlighting that the rates of carbon accumulation will change significantly in large areas. This study may increase the knowledge of aboveground forest biomass and the future trend of carbon stock in the European countries. Furthermore, due to their predictive character, the results may provide a background for further studies, in order to investigate the potential ecological, socio-economic and forest management responses to the changes in the aboveground forest carbon stock. However, in view of the uncertainties associated with the data accuracy and methodology used, it is presumed that the results include several spatial errors related to the estimation of aboveground forest biomass and simulation of future forest-cover pattern change and therefore, represent an uncertainty for the practical management of applications and decisions.