Abstract
Abstract Background Increasingly, forests are on the international climate change agenda as land use and cover changes drive forest and carbon loss. The ability of forests to store carbon has created programs such as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation plus (REDD+), in order to provide incentives for particular land uses and forest management practices. A critical element to REDD+ is the ability to know the carbon-storage potential of an ecosystem, and the factors likely to affect the rate of carbon accumulation or the maximum amount stored. Most REDD+ initiatives have focused on humid tropical forests because of their large stocks per unit area. Less attention has been paid to the carbon-storage potential of tropical dry forests, woodlands and savannas. Although these ecosystems support a lower biomass per unit area, they are more widespread than humid forests. This proposed systematic review examines miombo woodlands, which are the most extensive vegetation formation in Africa and support over 100 million people. We ask: To what extent have changes in land use and land cover influenced above- and below-ground carbon stocks of miombo woodlands since the 1950s? Methods We will search systematically for studies that document the influence of land use and cover change on above and below ground carbon in miombo woodlands since the 1950s. We will consult bibliographic databases and an extensive grey literature network, including government reports and forestry offices. Relevant studies will examine the impacts of human activities, fire and other land use or cover changes that affect wood biomass or soil carbon in the miombo region. All included studies will be assessed for the soundness and scientific validity of their study design. A quantitative synthesis will tabulate estimates of various parameters necessary to assess carbon stocks and changes across climate and geological factors; and a qualitative analysis will describe the governing land and forest policies. Understanding the impact that land uses and the associated changes have on carbon storage in the miombo woodlands will contribute to more informed forest management policies and better guided strategies for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Highlights
Forests are on the international climate change agenda as land use and cover changes drive forest and carbon loss
Most nascent REDD+ initiatives have focused on tropical moist forests because of their large carbon stocks per unit area and the substantial emissions of greenhouse gases that would result from converting these forests to pastures, cropland, or commercial timber plantations
The findings show that organic carbon content was largest under reference woodlands on red clays (53.3 Mg C ha−1) followed by those on granitic sand (22.8 Mg C ha−1) and least on Kalahari sand (19.5 Mg C ha−1)
Summary
Author and stakeholder workshops The miombo review team held two author and stakeholder workshops on November 26–27, 2013 in Livingstone, Zambia, and on January 21–22, 2014 in Lusaka, Zambia. Background and outcome sections, and developing data extraction and quality assessment criteria Both workshops served to further refine the review’s focus for understanding how land use and cover changes in the miombo region (and globally, dry forests) affect carbon fluxes. Scope and search strategy Our review will include peer-reviewed and grey literature from 1950 onwards on changes in biomass and carbon stocks under different land use practices in miombo woodlands. Our search strategy will combine the survey population (miombo woodlands, tree species and relevant countries), exposure (types of land use), and outcomes on wood biomass or carbon (above-and below-ground) (see Table 2 below). 1. Miombo woodland miombo OR woodland* OR “Zambez* phytoregion” OR brachystegia OR julbernardia OR isoberlinia OR savanna* OR forest* OR “standing stock” OR biomass
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