Assessing the economic value of carbon sequestration in Taman Negara Pahang

Abstract

Aesthetic benefits are not enough. Authorities need to be presented with economic benefits as well to make decisions in favour of forests and help them conserved or expanded. Thus, this paper aims to evaluate the economic value of carbon sequestration in Taman Negara Pahang (TNP), Malaysia, a national park with an extensive forest area. The study area covers 247,700 hectares of the Pahang State. The study uses a Geographic Information System (GIS) method of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) to identify the density of the forest across the study area. Consequently, by using the NDVI results, the carbon sequestration in TNP and its economic value were calculated. As a result, the research found that the potential of carbon storage or sequestration in TNP was 142,560,513 tonnes CO2. The economic value of which was worth RM2,637,369,490.50. The results of the GIS calculation were more accurate than the conventional method. It was due to the reason that they were based on evaluating density on a smaller scale of 900m x 900m (81ha). The results were aligned with previous studies pointing out higher density areas holding higher economic values. The study results can be used to convince Malaysian authorities to make wise decisions about such forests as they worth billions of Ringgit Malaysia.