Forest Carbon Stocks in Woody Plants of Tara Gedam Forest: Implication for Climate Change Mitigation

Abstract

The global climate changes become an environmental problem in today’s modern world because of the change in global weather pattern. The main cause of climate change is anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions of carbon dioxide mainly from the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation and emission of other GHGs. The overall objective of this study was to estimate the carbon stock potentials of Tara Gedam forest as potential sink for climate change mitigation. Forest plays an important role in the global carbon cycle as carbon sinks of the terrestrial ecosystem. The data was collected from the field by measuring plants with a DBH of >5cm and the carbon stocks of each plant were analyzed by using allometric equations. From this study the mean total carbon stock of Tara Gedam forest was 643.11 ton/ha, of which 306.366 ton/ha, 61.52 ton/ha, 0.90 ton/ha and 274.32 ton/ha were observed to be in the above ground carbon, below ground carbon, litter carbon and soil organic carbon, respectively. The highest carbon stock was found in the western aspect and the lowest in northwest aspect. Altitudinal gradient, slope and aspect were the three environmental factors that affect the different carbon pools of the forest and this study concluded that the forest should be conserved and protected in a sustainable way for further carbon sinks.