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Van Sangyan (ISSN 2395 - 468X) Vol. 4, No. 12, Issue: December, 2017
Published by Tropical Forest Research Institute, Jabalpur, MP, India 19
Carbon sequestration in forest ecosystem and methods for its
evaluation
Vishwajeet Sharma, Harish Chand, Nikita Rai and Mukesh Prasad
Forest Research Institute
Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
Dehradun
E-mail: svishwa37@gmail.com
Introduction
Carbon sequestration is the process of
removing additional carbon from the
atmosphere and deposition it in other
reservoir principally through changes in
land use (Mandal et al., 2005). Forestry,
agro forestry and improved agronomic
practices are major options for carbon
sequestration, which in terrestrial
ecosystem is defined as absorption of
atmospheric carbon dioxide by
photosynthesis or technology based
sequestration activities such as deep sea
based storage of liquefied carbon dioxide
(Bass et al., 2000). In the terrestrial system
carbon is sequestrated in rocks and
sediments, in swamps, wetlands and
forests, and in the soils of forests,
grasslands and agriculture.
Carbon sequestration in terrestrial
ecosystems can also be defined as the net
removal of CO2 from the atmosphere into
long-lived pools of carbon. The pools can
be living, above ground biomass (e.g.,
trees), products with a long useful life
created from biomass (e.g., lumber), living
biomass in soils (e.g., roots and micro
organisms), or recalcitrant organic and
inorganic carbon in soils and deeper
subsurface environments. It is important to
emphasize that increasing photosynthetic
carbon fixation alone is not enough. This
carbon must be fixed into long-lived pools.
Otherwise, one may be simply altering the
size of fluxes in the carbon cycle, not
increasing carbon sequestration.
Forests play an important role in the global
carbon cycle. They not only have a
significant impact on climate change, but
also influence it. Through their
destruction, forests can be serious sources
of greenhouse gases and through their
sustainable management they can be
important sinks of the same gases. It has
been proved that the land where the stock
is highest, had the highest stock of soil
organic carbon in comparison to other land
use system (Singh, 2005). Several studies
have indicated that the global potential for
enhancing carbon storage in forest and
agricultural ecosystems may be as much as
60-90 pentagrams of carbon (De Jong et
al., 1999).
Forest ecosystems can be sources and
sinks of carbon (Watson et al., 2000). The
carbon reservoir in the world‘s forests is
higher than the one in atmosphere. While
forests in most temperate regions are net
carbon sinks, tropical forests accounts for
about one third of global carbon emissions
(IPCC, 2001). Deforestation and burning
of forests releases CO2 to the atmosphere.
Indeed, land use change and forestry are
responsible for about 25% of all green
house gas emissions. Forest ecosystems
can, however, also help reduce greenhouse
gas concentrations by absorbing carbon
from the atmosphere through the process
of photosynthesis. The forests have the
Van Sangyan (ISSN 2395 - 468X) Vol. 4, No. 12, Issue: December, 2017
Published by Tropical Forest Research Institute, Jabalpur, MP, India 20
greatest potential to sequester carbon
primarily through reforestation, agro
forestry and conservation of existing
forests (Brown et al. 1996). The global
terrestrial carbon stock is shown in the Fig.
1.
Fig. 1. Global terrestial carbon stock (Source: Ruesch and Gibbs, 2008)
Forest ecosystems store more than 80% of
all terrestrial above-ground carbon and
more than 70% of all soil organic carbon
(Six et al., 2002). The role of tropical
forest in global biogeochemical cycle
especially the carbon cycle and its relation
to green house gas effect has heightened
interest in estimating the biomass density
of tropical forest. The quantity of biomass
in a forest determines the potential amount
of carbon that can be added to the
atmosphere or sequestrated on the land
when forests are managed for meeting
emission targets. The quantification of
biomass is required as the primary
inventory data to understand carbon pool
changes and productivity of forests.
Method of measuring carbon
sequestration in forest ecosystem
Sampling technique
Systematic sampling with sampling
intensity of 0.01% is applied. Circular plot
each of 250 m2 area is taken for sample
plot measurement as in figure 2. Circular
plots of 8.92 meter radius are used for
sampling trees of diameter more than 5 cm
at breast height. Another nested plot of
5.64 m radius inside the big circle is made
to measure plants of DBH (1-5) cm.
Similarly, another nested plot of 1 m
radius at the center is made to count
regenerations of diameter less than 1 cm at
breast height. Finally, at the center, a circle
of 0.56 m radius is made for the
measurement of leaf litter, herbs and
Van Sangyan (ISSN 2395 - 468X) Vol. 4, No. 12, Issue: December, 2017
Published by Tropical Forest Research Institute, Jabalpur, MP, India 21
shrubs. The height and circumference of
dead stumps within the circular plot of 8.92 m is also measured to find out dead
carbon in ton/ha.
Fig. 2. Sample plot layout (Source: ANSAB, 2010)
Carbon estimation
Estimation of total carbon present in the
forest ecosystem is required to find the
total carbon sequestration in forest
ecosystem. The measurement includes:
Common methods (Biomass
expansion factor)
Allometric regression equation
(Forest type and species specific)
The major carbon pools of the
forest ecosystem are:
Above Ground Biomass (Stem
wood, branch wood, bark, foliage,
seeds etc)
Below Ground Biomass (Coarse
root, fine root & stumps)
Deadwood (Coarse and fine)
Soil Organic Matter &
Leaf Litter, Grass and Herb
Method of measuring each pools of carbon
is given below:
Above ground biomass (AGB)
Bole mass = Volume * Wood
density
Above Ground Biomass = Bole
mass * Biomass expansion factor
Total carbon (T1) = AGB * 0.47
Below ground biomass (BGB)
Below Ground Biomass = AGB *
0.26
Total carbon (T2) = BGB * 0.47
Deadwood (Organic matter)
Deadwood biomass = (AGB +
BGB) * 0.11
Total carbon (T3) = Deadwood
biomass * 0.47
Soil organic matter (SOM)
The Walkey-Black method (Jackson,
1958) will be applied to measure the soil
organic carbon percent. Total soil organic
carbon will be calculated using the
Van Sangyan (ISSN 2395 - 468X) Vol. 4, No. 12, Issue: December, 2017
Published by Tropical Forest Research Institute, Jabalpur, MP, India 22
formula given below (Chabbra et al.,
2002):
SOC= Organic carbon content%*soil bulk
density (kg/m3)*thickness of horizon (cm)
Further, it was expressed in ton/ha.
Bulk density
Metal core ring sampler of dimension, 9.7
cm length and 3.86 cm diameter will be
used for determining the bulk density of
the soil samples along the soil profile. The
fresh soil extracted by metal core ring
sampler will be bagged in plastic bag,
sealed, leveled and transported to the
laboratory for the determination of oven
dry weight and the Bulk density will be
computed using the following relations:
Bulk density (gm/cm3) = (oven dry weight
of the soil)/ (volume of the core)
T4= Soil Organic Matter Carbon
Leaf litter, grass and herb (LGH)
All under storey bushes, grasses and
herbaceous layers will be clipped and
weighed. Clipped samples will be dried
inside oven at temperature of 102 degree
centigrade for 24 hours. The following
formula will be applied to calculate the
biomass value of leaf, litter, twigs, grass
and herbs (Lasco et al., 2005).
where,
ODW = Total oven dry weight
TFW = Total fresh weight
SFW = Sample fresh weight
SODW = Sample oven dry weight
The carbon content in LHG, was
calculated by multiplying LHG with the
IPCC (2006) default carbon fraction of
0.47.
T5= ODW (t) * 0.47
Total carbon content in all pools (T) = T1
+ T2 + T3 +T4 + T5
Total carbon sequestration in forest
ecosystem = Total carbon * 3.6663
Remote sensing involved in
measurement of carbon
Modern technology includes measurement
of forest carbon sequestration by
application of remote sensing. Carbon
stock measurement is based on vegetation
cover derived from remote sensing
(Scanning laser i.e. LIDAR data). The
vegetation cover is then converted to
carbon by multiplying with biomass-
carbon conversion factor.
Total wood volume = Vegetation
cover * 1.454 * 0.396 (m3)
Total dry matter biomass = Wood
volume * 0.43 (tonnes)
Total carbon = Dry matter biomass
* 0.5 (tonnes)
Total carbon dioxide sequestrated
= Total carbon * 3.6663 (tonnes)
Discussion and conclusion
Forest ecosystem is the major biological
scrubber of atmospheric CO2. Its careful
management can significantly increase it
efficiency. Managed forests are hence
most effective and reliable sinks of GHGs
sequestering more carbon than unmanaged
forests (Levy et al. 2004). Among different
sustainable forest management practice
existing in the world, community managed
forestry program is preferable option of
carbon sequestration, primarily in
developing countries (Klooster and Masera
2000). Community forestry programme is
increasing carbon stock in biomass as well
as in soil through two mechanisms.
Primarily, there is significant increase in
carbon pool due to active reforestation and
afforestation in barren land secondly
decreased emission due to control of
deforestation. Carbon sequestration in
forest soils has a potential to decrease the
Van Sangyan (ISSN 2395 - 468X) Vol. 4, No. 12, Issue: December, 2017
Published by Tropical Forest Research Institute, Jabalpur, MP, India 23
rate of enrichment of atmospheric
concentration of CO2. Increase in carbon
stock of forest soils can be achieved
through forest management including site
preparation, fire management,
afforestation, species management,
selection and use of fertilizers.
The temporal carbon dynamics are
characterized by long periods of gradual
build-up of biomass (sink), alternated with
short periods of massive biomass loss
(source). Forests thus switch between
being a source or a sink for carbon. It is
believed that the goal of reducing carbon
sources and increasing the carbon sink can
be achieved efficiently by protecting and
conserving the carbon pools in existing
forests (Brown et al. 1996).
The productivity of any forest depends on
the age of its vegetation. It is well
established that forest plantations
sequester carbon till maturity which would
vary from 25 to 75 years depending upon
the type of forests. At later stages, there is
only marginal carbon sequestration. In
natural forests, there is a net addition to
standing biomass leading to carbon
storages only until maturity. In mature
forests all of the gross primary
productivity is either used up in respiration
or returned to soil as litter with no net
addition to the standing biomass. These
mature forests do not significantly
contribute towards carbon uptake, through
important for regeneration and thus in
sustaining biodiversity (Lal, 2004).
Forest management in the world
effectively enhances biomass carbon, and
CFM may be a good contributor to REDD+
programmes in the future. Soil carbon
forms a large portion of the overall carbon
content of many forest ecosystems, and if
the forest is cleared, it may be lost, at least
in part. The amount of biomass
sequestered in forests under CFM depends
on the forest management practices and
users awareness level. Management of
forests was evolved after the late 1970‘s
when massive deforestation happened in
state controlled forests. After the
understanding of people‘s dependent in
forest products in their livelihood and their
vital role in the conservation of forest, the
concept of utilization of these resources
sustainably arose within the management.
Silviculture practice, which is done
periodically and regularly, is the part of
management process, by which they not
only fulfill local people‘s daily
requirement but also maintain forest
stability. The various studies shows that
sustainable management of forest by
people has lead to increase in carbon stock
as well as in carbon sequestration. This
shows potentiality of the carbon sink in the
forests. Carbon dioxide is simply
sequestrated by the plant through
photosynthesis which is stored as plant
biomass.
Trees can develop a large biomass and
capture a large amount of carbon over a
growth cycle of many decades. So, forest
can capture a large volume of carbon for a
long period of time. So, carbon sink and
storage in the forest are important factors
to mitigate climate change. Communities
are to engage in this sort of forest
management to promote the protection of
forests avoiding the deforestation
(Skutsch, 2006). Obviously, contributions
of community forest can help to meet the
binding target of emission reduction of
Kyoto Protocol (Gundimeda, 2004).
Conclusively; the forest management has a
global role in reversing the process of
deforestation and sequestrating carbon and
Van Sangyan (ISSN 2395 - 468X) Vol. 4, No. 12, Issue: December, 2017
Published by Tropical Forest Research Institute, Jabalpur, MP, India 24
a local function of promoting rural
development activities.
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