Evaluating the Carbon Stock in Above-and Below-Ground Biomass in a Moist Central African Forest

Abstract

The study aimed to estimate the carbon stocks of above-and below-ground biomass in Lesio-louna forest (Republic of Congo). The methodology of allometric equations was used to measure the carbon stocks of Lesio-louna moist forest. The research was done with 22 circular plots, each 1,256 m 2 . In the 22 plots, we made measurements on a total of 347 trees with 197 trees for the class of 10-30 cm diameter, 131 trees for the class of 30- 60 cm diameter and 19 trees in the diameter class > 60 cm. The results shows that in the whole forest, the average carbon stock across the 22 plots studied was 168.601 t C ha -1 for aboveground biomass (AGB), or 81% and 39.55t C ha -1 for belowground biomass (BGB), or 19%. The total carbon stocks in all the biomass was 3,395 t C for aboveground biomass (AGB) and 909.689 t C for belowground biomass (BGB).This study indicates that the forests in the studied sites are an important carbon sink, and they can also play a key role in global climate change mitigation. Lesio-louna tropical forest has the capacity to trap vast amounts of carbon which would otherwise escape into the atmosphere as CO2, one of the worst greenhouse gases (GHGs) offenders.