Assessment and Modelling of Forest Biomass and Carbon Stock and Sequestration Using Various Remote Sensing Sensor Systems

Abstract

The global climatic crisis along with the threat to the forests has increased the need to research for more accurate and accessible methods and techniques to quantify biomass and carbon in forest while supporting the REED+ and other world objectives. With the aim of reaching zero net deforestation, all participant countries of the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have to present an up-to-date report of their carbon balance periodically, as well as compensation actions of REDD+ programme. In the 2020s, REDD+ compensation payments should start to be implemented along with the compensation actions in which money from emission countries should be paid to carbon stock countries. Therefore, accuracy, transparency and accessibility of the carbon quantification processes are essential to achieve REDD+ objectives and ultimately the conservation and enhancement of forest carbon stocks. Measurement, Recording and Verification (MRV) is the mechanism to make sure that the claim of countries that they have more carbon stock than emitted is correct. For ages, assessment of forest aboveground biomass (AGB)Above ground biomass (AGB) and aboveground carbon (AGC) or carbon stockCarbon stocks has relied on the classical forest inventoryForest inventories approach. Usually, DBHDiameter at breast height (DBH) and tree height are measured in the field to assess forest AGBAbove ground biomass (AGB) using an allometric equationAllometric equations. Although forest inventoryForest inventories data provide the needful information, it is time-consuming and less accessible, and datasets are often limited to a small area. Therefore, having a robust method using remote sensingRemote sensing technology to assess AGBAbove ground biomass (AGB) and AGC is essential in monitoring forest biomassForest biomass and carbon stockCarbon stocks. This technology is reasonably accurate, economical and operational along with the complement of field measurement. This chapter will review several latest remote sensingRemote sensing sensorSensors systems (e.g. VHRS, AirborneAirborne RGB, SARSynthetic aperture radar (SAR), AirborneAirborne LiDAR, terrestrial laser scanner and UAVUnmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) RGB and MSSMultispectral Scanner System (MSS) images) and analysis techniques and their applications in the assessment of AGBAbove ground biomass (AGB) and carbon stockCarbon stocks and sequestration.