Community forest carbon assessment in eastern thailand from forest conservation management by local people

Abstract

One measure of increasing carbon sequestration areas is community forest conservation, which is the way to maintain common forest areas linking with human livelihoods. The first step towards implementing incentive mechanism of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) at the national level is to assess the amount of forest carbon. This is important for REDD inspections and subsequent funding from public funds or carbon markets. The objective is to find the carbon stock in soil, aboveground and belowground biomass for estimated carbon price in the community forest. The study site was carried out at Ban Phrao community forest, Sa Kaeo Province, East of Thailand. Field data were collected from temporary 16 plots the diversity of plant species, to assess forest biomass carbon storage based on the allometric equation, and to estimate the proportion of carbon contents in plant and soil by using CHN analyzer. Results showed that species diversity by Shanon-Wiener Index was 2.75, which the tree species range identified 29 families and 33 species. Xylia xylocarpa (Roxb.) Taub. was the dominant specie. Carbon stock in biomass for 2017 and 2019 were 19.04 and 44.86 t C ha-1. The increasing rate of carbon stock in biomass was 12.90 t C ha-1 y-1. The carbon stock in soil at 0-15 and 15-30 cm soil depth were 21.02 and 18.05 t C ha-1. Estimated carbon price from biomass increasing rate at Ban Phrao community forest were 216.72 USD ha-1 y-1 or 35,576.75 USD y-1. Then, Ban Phrao community forest was the potential to increase income for the surrounding community by maintaining and conserving the forest area to store carbon, preserve biodiversity and in return for conservation. Copyright © 2021, AIDIC Servizi S.r.l.