Impact of Climate Change on Forests in Cambodia

Abstract

Cambodia is rich in forest resources, which play critical roles in local rural livelihoods, as well as providing valuable ecological and economic resources for the country’s economic development. Managing forests sustainably and equitably will be essential for maintaining the ecological integrity of the country, maintaining freshwater supplies and protecting biodiversity. Approximately 80% of the Cambodians live in rural areas depend upon the forests to support many people’s lives as a source of food, medicine and building products, and as a source of materials and goods for small business ventures. Forest degradation globally contributes around 17 % to Green House Gases (GHG) emissions, but in Cambodia represents the main factor in the country becoming a net emitter of GHGs. Climate change is one of the most environmental issues facing to the government. The study aimed at i) assessing the impact of climate change on NPP, Vegetation Carbon and Soil Organic Carbon using LPJ model; ii) projecting the spatial representation of Impact of climate change on NPP, Vegetation Carbon stocks, and Soil Organic Carbon. The Lund Potsdam Jena (LPJ) model combines process-based, large-scale representations of terrestrial vegetation dynamics and land-atmosphere carbon and water exchanges in a modular framework. The model climate data requirements are benign as it requires only Temperature, Rainfall and Cloudiness as climatology inputs. Model validation is used for Net Primary Productivity (NPP), Vegetation Carbon (VegC), and Soil Organic Carbon (SoC). Obtaining observation of NPP, VegC, and SoC data for the region from the published literature or from the international databases and compare these with the LPJ projections (Spatially or non- spatially). As results, LPJ Simulated distribution on NPP in Cambodia using different scenarios including Baseline, RCP 8.5, and RCP 8.5 with control CO2 generated based on NPP, VegC, and SoC. Also, LPJ simulated Soil carbon change (%) projections for Cambodia under the RCP 8.5 under the two scenarios of CO2 fertilization and no-CO2 fertilization.