Assessment of Mangrove Carbon Stocks in Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of Congo (RoC) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Including their Potential for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+)

Ajonina, Gordon N.; Kairo, James Gitundu; Grimsditch, Gabriel; Sembrés, Thomas; Chuyong, George B.; Diyouke, Eugene

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-06388-1_15

Cited by 23 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 7 publications

(7 reference statements)

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“…Mangrove soils were the largest repository of C stocks in Bhitarkanika mangroves; this reflects results seen in mangroves around the world , Murdiyarso et al 2009, Alongi 2012, Adame et al 2013, Ajonina et al 2014, Jones et al 2014, Tue et al 2014. The average soil C stocks within 0-100-cm soil depths for the studied land use types (56-111 Mg C/ha) were lower in comparison to C stocks in other mangrove forests for the same depth.…”

Section: Vegetation Biomass Mangrove Soils and Ecosystem Carbon Poolssupporting

confidence: 72%

Impacts of land use on Indian mangrove forest carbon stocks: Implications for conservation and management

Bhomia

MacKenzie

Murdiyarso

et al. 2016

Ecological Applications

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Globally, mangrove forests represents only 0.7% of world's tropical forested area but are highly threatened due to susceptibility to climate change, sea level rise, and increasing pressures from human population growth in coastal regions. Our study was carried out in the Bhitarkanika Conservation Area (BCA), the second-largest mangrove area in eastern India. We assessed total ecosystem carbon (C) stocks at four land use types representing varying degree of disturbances. Ranked in order of increasing impacts, these sites included dense mangrove forests, scrub mangroves, restored/planted mangroves, and abandoned aquaculture ponds. These impacts include both natural and/or anthropogenic disturbances causing stress, degradation, and destruction of mangroves. Mean vegetation C stocks (including both above- and belowground pools; mean ± standard error) in aquaculture, planted, scrub, and dense mangroves were 0, 7 ± 4, 65 ± 11 and 100 ± 11 Mg C/ha, respectively. Average soil C pools for aquaculture, planted, scrub, and dense mangroves were 61 ± 8, 92 ± 20, 177 ± 14, and 134 ± 17 Mg C/ha, respectively. Mangrove soils constituted largest fraction of total ecosystem C stocks at all sampled sites (aquaculture [100%], planted [90%], scrub [72%], and dense mangrove [57%]). Within BCA, the four studied land use types covered an area of ~167 km and the total ecosystem C stocks were 0.07 Tg C for aquaculture (~12 km ), 0.25 Tg C for planted/ restored mangrove (~24 km ), 2.29 teragrams (Tg) Tg C for scrub (~93 km ), and 0.89 Tg C for dense mangroves (~38 km ). Although BCA is protected under Indian wildlife protection and conservation laws, ~150 000 people inhabit this area and are directly or indirectly dependent on mangrove resources for sustenance. Estimates of C stocks of Bhitarkanika mangroves and recognition of their role as a C repository could provide an additional reason to support conservation and restoration of Bhitarkanika mangroves. Harvesting or destructive exploitation of mangroves by local communities for economic gains can potentially be minimized by enabling these communities to avail themselves of carbon offset/conservation payments under approved climate change mitigation strategies and actions.

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Section: Vegetation Biomass Mangrove Soils and Ecosystem Carbon Poolssupporting

confidence: 72%

Impacts of land use on Indian mangrove forest carbon stocks: Implications for conservation and management

Bhomia

MacKenzie

Murdiyarso

et al. 2016

Ecological Applications

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“…The AGC values reported in this study are similar to other Tanzanian studies but lower than for example in the Democratic Republic of Congo (25). This could be attributed to the combination of: i) different methods used to sample AGC (Table 2), ii) different environmental characteristics (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

“…Beyond the zone of soil erosion, plots closest to the shore, which experience greater tidal inundation (and salinity), have slower decomposition rates, and therefore, higher SOC stocks. Mangrove's sediments can store high amounts of carbon due to complex root structures, high sedimentation rates and waterlogged conditions which impedes microbial degradation and slows decay [16,25]. SOC stocks reported in this study are signi cantly higher than other studies in Tanzania (which only sampled 60cm depth (58)), but they are within the range reported by other studies in Africa (Table 2).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 69%

“…Africa hosts about 19% of the world's mangroves, yet there are relatively few studies that have examined the carbon stocks of African mangroves (24), and the studies available report great differences among sites and amongst the different pools of carbon stocks, particularly between the above ground carbon (AGC) stored in the trees and the organic carbon sored within the sediment -'soil organic carbon (SOC)'. For example, SOC estimates for 1m depth range from 122 Mg C ha -1 in Republic of Congo (25) to 342 Mg C ha -1 in Liberia (24). In a single estuary in Liberia, total ecosystem carbon stocks (AGC+ SOC) varied by over fourfold, ranging from 366 to 1,485 Mg C ha -1 (Kauffman et al 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The effects of seaward distance on above and below ground carbon stocks in estuarine mangrove ecosystems

Cleyndert

Cuní-Sanchez

Seki

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background: Mangrove forests have gained recognition for their potential role in climate change mitigation due to the carbon sequestration of the productive ecosystems and storage in the sediments that are trapped by the mangrove tree roots and pneumatophores. Africa hosts about 19% of the world’s mangroves, yet there are relatively few studies that have examined the carbon stocks of African mangroves, and the studies available report great differences among sites and amongst the different pools of carbon stocks, particularly between the above ground carbon stored in trees (AGC) and organic carbon stored within the sediment - ‘soil organic carbon (SOC)’ and none considered the effects of seaward distance. We investigate if AGC and SOC carbon stocks differ with increasing seaward distance for estuarine mangroves in Tanzania and, how our results compare to those reported elsewhere across Africa.Results: AGC ranged between 10.9-54.9 Mg C ha-1 , but was not significantly affected by seaward distance. SOC for 0-1m depth ranged from 153.7-483.6, with a mean of 301.7 Mg C ha-1. SOC was significantly negatively correlated with seaward distance, which is different from studies in Micronesia and the Indo-Pacific. Mangrove type (estuarine/oceanic), soil erosion and soil depth may explain these differences We note important methodological differences in previous studies on carbon stocks in mangroves in Africa. Conclusion:This study indicates that seaward distance has an important effect on SOC stocks in the Lindi region of Tanzania. There is the need to standardise methodological approaches for mangroves in Africa, to report seaward distance and to describe the type of mangrove stand to make results easily comparable across sites and to assess the true value of Blue Carbon in Africa. We recommend focusing on trees >10cm diameter for AGC, and sampling soils to greater than 1m depth for SOC, which would provide a more complete assessment of the potentially considerable mangrove carbon store.

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“…For forest assessment, at Douala in Cameroon, mangrove forest measurements of basal area, mortality and recruitment trends were carried out at nine permanent sample plots of 0.1 ha in size, including incorporation of plots already established (Ajonina 2008) to allow a 7-8 years repeat measurement (Ajonina and Chuyong 2011;Ajonina et al 2014). In Fiji, similar forest assessments were carried out at Tikina Wai, of forest community structure, height and diameter, and density of seedlings, with measurements repeated 2 years later ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vulnerability assessment of mangroves to climate change and sea-level rise impacts

Ellison

2014

Wetlands Ecol Manage

180

117

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Climate change, particularly its associated sea level rise, is major threat to mangrove coastal areas, and it is essential to develop ways to reduce vulnerability through strategic management planning. Vulnerability has three dimensions of exposure to stresses, associated sensitivity, and related adaptive capacity, and ways to measure components of each were trialled at sites in Africa and the South Pacific to develop an analysis procedure based on ranking. The approaches of the ranking system for vulnerability assessment of mangrove systems integrate biotic and abiotic factors along with human management components, using validated methods previously developed for other research questions. These include determining mangrove forest health, adjacent ecosystem resilience, the extent and effects of human impacts, and the environmental conditions of different mangrove settings. Results of the vulnerability assessment ranking using up to 20 measurements found all sites to have some components of vulnerability. Douala Estuary, Cameroon showed the highest vulnerability, owing to low tidal range, impacts from nonclimate stressors, and evidence of moderate seaward edge retreat. Tikina Wai, Fiji showed inherent vulnerability owing to location on a subsiding coastline with a low tidal range, but this was offset by strong local community management capacity. Rufiji Delta, Tanzania showed inherent resilience owing to location on an uplifting coastline with a macrotidal range, but showed vulnerability from human impacts and lower local community management capacity. The most critical components to the vulnerability assessment were found to be exposure components of relative sea level trends and sediment supply, and sensitivity components of forest health, recent spatial changes and net accretion rates. The results provide a baseline against which to establish long-term ongoing monitoring, allowing continued assessment of the complex dynamics of climate change impacts, and providing an information base for strategic management decisions.

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Assessment of Mangrove Carbon Stocks in Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of Congo (RoC) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Including their Potential for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+)

Cited by 23 publications

References 7 publications

Impacts of land use on Indian mangrove forest carbon stocks: Implications for conservation and management

Impacts of land use on Indian mangrove forest carbon stocks: Implications for conservation and management

The effects of seaward distance on above and below ground carbon stocks in estuarine mangrove ecosystems

Vulnerability assessment of mangroves to climate change and sea-level rise impacts

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