Dynamics of Carbon Stock at Selected Primary Linkages of Central Forest Spine (CFS) Corridors in Peninsular Malaysia

Abstract

The Improving Connectivity of the Central Forest Spine Project (IC-CFS) under the United Nations of Development Programme (UNDP) funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Malaysian Government (GOM) is aimed at increasing capacity at the Federal and State level to execute the CFS Master Plan. Currently there are 37 CFS corridors that have been identified and prescribed in the CFS Master Plan. Out of this, 17 corridors are classified as Primary Linkages (PL) and 20 as Secondary Linkages (SL), with amounted a total extent of 507,976 ha. The study areas involved three PL corridors, which summing a total area of 35,905 ha, which are PL-1 in Pahang (4,355 ha), PL-2 in Perak (24,759 ha) and PL-3 in Johor (6,791 ha). Accurate assessment and efficient management of these corridors landscape require a systematic geospatial tool. The Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) tool, developed by the Natural Capital Project were chosen to assess the carbon dynamics at the study areas particularly using Carbon model to determine ecosystem services and trade-offs between past (year 2010) and current (year 2020) landuse pattern in the study areas. The study found that there are changes of landuse within the corridors and thus resulted in the changes of carbon stock (C) within the ten years period. PL-1 and PL-2 showed positive increases of 23,690.34 and 830,818.10 Mg C, respectively. However, the other corridor, i.e., PL-3 indicated depletion of C at -523,484.89 Mg C between 2010 and 2020. These fluctuations were due to the conversion of forests to other land use types. Areas that indicated increased in C were undergoing protective actions and conserved the remaining forests within the corridors. The results were presented in spatially distributed maps together with the magnitude of changes. The study also discussed the potential of the InVEST tools in supporting decision making and conservation efforts in CFS and other landscapes in Peninsular Malaysia.