Mapping Carbon Stocks in the Dimako Communal Forest, East-Cameroon

Abstract

In the global context of global warming, Cameroon's forests have a major role to play in mitigating climate change. The objectives of this study were to assess and spatialize carbon stocks in different types of land use/land cover types. To achieve these objectives, an approach based on the diachronic analysis of satellite images and the inventory of woody plants with a diameter greater than or equal to 10 cm in plots of 250 m x 20 m were carried out. The results show a 22.94% decrease in the area of mature forests and an 8.39% increase in the area of young forests in 2015. Results from field surveys show that carbon stocks vary from stratum to stratum and pool to pool. Stored carbon is higher in mature forests (133.52 tC/ha) and low in swamps (6.71 tC/ha). The aboveground compartment stores more carbon (224, 88 tC/ ha) followed by the belowground compartment (42.88 tC/ ha) and finally dead standing wood (2.59 tC/ ha). The mapping provided more account for the spatial variability of carbon stocks between land use/land cover types, providing arguments for fully meeting REDD+ targets.

Stand Diversity and Carbon Stock of a Tropical Forest in the Deng Deng National Park, Cameroon

“…The AGB had the highest Carbon stock in this study. Similar results were obtained by Hubert et al [35] in the Dimako communal forest in the East region of Cameroon. Vahedi et al [100] indicated that the trunk biomass is higher than the other compartments of the tree.…”

“…Unfortunately, no real attempts have been made to estimate the state of biomass in most African forests, as estimating change in biodiversity and Carbon stock became difficult [30] in Africa in general and Cameroon in particular [31]; creating considerable uncertainty about the above-and belowground quantity and distribution of carbon stocks in African forests [32]. This study is one of few in Cameroon and the broader Congo Basin region that has calculated diversity, above-ground biomass, and carbon in a semi-deciduous forest [32] [33] [34] [35]; as despite the importance of this forest reserve, its biodiversity, Carbon storage capacity, the relationship between tree diversity and their ability to store Carbon remains poorly known.…”

Assessing plant diversity change in logged and unlogged dense semi-deciduous production forest of eastern Cameroon

“…The latter, because of its rich diversity of commercially important tree species and relatively small area, is more threatened than the dense evergreen forest. These forests are important reserves of genetic, specific and ecosystem diversity that should be conserved as much as possible for the sustainable management of this biological heritage [ [6] , [7] , [8] ]. These forests provide multiple services [ 9 , 10 ], contribute to the regulation of the greenhouse effect and the establishment of major climatic balances [ 11 , 12 ].…”