Orange Plantations Research Articles

Optimizing Ecotourism Elements to Strengthen the Tourism Attraction of Kerta Village, Payangan, Gianyar

Kerta Village has ecotourism potential that has not been optimized, such as the potential of waterfall attractions, MSME products, and agro-tourism potential of orange plantations. The problems faced are the optimal management of the potential owned, the lack of supporting infrastructure, and the limited capacity of the community in managing potential. This service activity aims to optimize the ecotourism potential of Kerta Village to strengthen tourist attraction. The methods used include field surveys, master plan planning, and community assistance. The results show that with the master plan for the establishment of water attractions can strengthen the tourist attraction of Kerta Village. synergy between ecotourism development and MSME empowerment is important in order to create a mutually reinforcing economic ecosystem.

How natural are the forests in Rajiv Gandhi (Nagarhole) Tiger Reserve? A multi-source data approach.

This study aimed to monitor long-term land use dynamics for understanding the natural forestintegrity and intactness of the Rajiv Gandhi (Nagarhole) Tiger Reserve (RTR) pre- and post-declarations as TR. We employed multi-source data from Survey of India Toposheets (1:50k), Landsat-7, and Sentinel-2A along with Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) vegetation canopy height (10m) data, a high-spatial resolution CORONA (1970) images and temporal Google Earth Pro images for mapping and validation. To map vegetation type, land use and land cover (LULC) transitions, and fragmentation (1980-2022) we employed a hybrid classification approach. This study also analyzed decadal forest dynamics within TRsusing India's State of Forest Reports (ISFR). Findings reveal significant forest fragmentation and habitat loss due to anthropogenic activities in the TR. Mono-plantations (teak and eucalyptus) were found inside TR, while the buffer (1km) was occupied mainly with coffee and orange plantations which indicates the prevalence of human footprint. The overall accuracy of the current period (2022) is 92.0% with a kappa coefficient value of 0.90. These plantations were established during the British colonial period (early 1900s) for commercial purposes by clearing natural forests. The present study highlights that mono-plantations have not transitioned into natural forests even after a century. This lack of transformation could potentially compromise the integrity of the native forest. Despite its ecological significance, RTR has experienced disturbance due to human footprint. Hence, there is a need for an action plan to protect this vital landscape by replacing mono-plantations with suitable species to preserve the integrity of the forest. These issues extend beyond the protected areas, impacting surrounding regions and require regular monitoring. The proposed methods can be applied to other protected areas facing similar problems in the countryand world.

Rewriting The Ugly Duckling tale: a Eurasian tree sparrow reared among great tits

Rewriting The Ugly Duckling Tale: a Eurasian tree sparrow reared among great tits. Competitive relationships between hole-nesting passerine bird species can lead to mixed broods when two or more species lay their eggs in the same nest. On 5 May 2023, during a routine inspection of nest boxes in orange plantations in Sagunto, Eastern Spain, we found a Eurasian tree sparrow (Passer montanus) egg dumped among nine great tit (Parus major) eggs. From this clutch, six great tits and the Eurasian tree sparrow hatched, and four great tits and the sparrow fledged. Using a video camera inside the nest box, we observed that the nestlings, including the sparrow, were fed only by great tit adults. The adults brought caterpillars, moths and spiders, a typical great tit nestling diet in this habitat. To date, great tit eggs have been found in Eurasian tree sparrow nests, but to our knowledge this is the first report of a Eurasian tree sparrow chick successfully raised by great tits.

Modeling Land Use and Climate Change Effects on Soil Organic Carbon Storage under Different Plantation Systems in Mizoram, Northeast India

Soil carbon sequestration is vital to reduce the atmospheric carbon concentration, which is expected to increase within future climatic scenarios. The present study aims to investigate the effects of land use changes to different plantation systems on SOC stocks, and simulate these changes using the RothC model in Mizoram, India. With this aim, four land uses, viz., secondary forest, oil palm, orange, and arecanut plantations, established on degraded shifting cultivation lands, and a control natural forest were selected for this study. The soils were sampled 0–30 cm in the secondary forest, plantations, and the natural forest, at an interval of five years. Measured SOC stocks were the highest in the secondary forest (67.0 Mg C ha−1) and the lowest under the oil palm plantation (37.4 Mg C ha−1), 10 years after land use conversion. The climate change projections for 2021–2035 and 2036–2050 indicated that temperature and rainfall changes, projected to increase by 0.8 and 2.0 °C, and 5.9 and 5.4%, respectively, will affect SOC stocks in the future differently, depending on the land use and carbon input from vegetation. Baseline climate simulations under land use change showed the highest increase in the SOC stock under the secondary forest (116%), and the lowest in the oil palm plantation (27%). Overall, the model predicted that SOC stocks would increase, but the rate of change (0.23–1.86 Mg C ha−1 yr−1) varied with different land uses, plant species, and land management practices. The model results indicated that restoring secondary forest following the abandonment of a shifting cultivation and orange plantations are the best options to improve SOC stocks within future climate change scenarios. Conversely, arecanut and oil palm need to be reduced because the SOC storage is lower.

Optimalisasi SDM Melalui Pembentukan Pokdarwis Serta Pelatihan Pengolahan Jeruk di Desa Bonyoh

Bonyoh Village trying to be touritm village with natural potential of orange plantations. The potential is not accompanied by human resources, this is due to lack of tourism awareness and knowledge regarding management of tourism potential. Problems faced by Bonyoh Village are the absence of a driving agency to increase the role of the community in tourism potential, lack knowledge of processing orange into selling value products and their marketing. Based on these problems, service activities implemented in the formation of Pokdarwis by including training on the development of citrus plantation businesses and their marketing as well as training on tourism villages, ticketing, guiding and promoting. The method used is discussion, mentoring and training and development. Evaluation show that 100% of Pokdarwis formation realized, 2 people can process them into products, 1 person can do marketing on social media and 50% of participants' knowledge increases regarding tourist villages, ticketing, guiding and promoting towards a new Tourism Village in Bangli Regency.

The Combined Use of UAV-Based RGB and DEM Images for the Detection and Delineation of Orange Tree Crowns with Mask R-CNN: An Approach of Labeling and Unified Framework

In this study, we used images obtained by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and an instance segmentation model based on deep learning (Mask R-CNN) to evaluate the ability to detect and delineate canopies in high density orange plantations. The main objective of the work was to evaluate the improvement acquired by the segmentation model when integrating the Canopy Height Model (CHM) as a fourth band to the images. Two models were evaluated, one with RGB images and the other with RGB + CHM images, and the results indicated that the model with combined images presents better results (overall accuracy from 90.42% to 97.01%). In addition to the comparison, this work suggests a more efficient ground truth mapping method and proposes a methodology for mosaicking the results by Mask R-CNN on remotely sensed images.

Diversity of Fruit Flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) on Sweet Orange Plantations in Central Bangka Regency, Bangka Belitung Islands Province

Central Bangka Regency is one of central orange production in Bangka Belitung Islands Province. One of the important pests of sweet orange plants is fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae). This research aimed to study the diversity of fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) on sweet orange plantations in Central Bangka Regency, Bangka Belitung Islands Province. The fruit flies were collected using Lynfield traps which installed in three villages producing sweet oranges in Central Bangka Regency. The types of attractants used to trap male fruit flies are methyl eugenol and cue lure. The fruit flies collected during the study were 4795 individuals, 3 genera, and 14 species. Fruit flies collected from the methyl eugenol were different compared to those collected using lure attractant trap. Most species (13 species) of fruit fly were found in Terentang village, and the rest was same (9 species). Bactrocera carambolae and B. dorsalis were the dominant fruit fly species in the three research locations.

Comparison of silica-based materials for organophosphorus pesticides sampling and occupational risk assessment

A novel air sampler has been designed containing a sorbent based on UVM-7 mesoporous silica doped with Ti. The sorbent has been applied for the determination of organophosphorus pesticides in occupational air, followed by gas chromatography with mass spectrometry detection. Thus, several silica materials with different structures (mesoporous UVM-7 and microporous xerogels) were synthesized, and modified with the addition of Ti and Fe. The structure of these materials was proved by transmission electronic microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray, X-ray diffraction, nitrogen adsorption-desorption and UV–Vis and Raman spectroscopy. The potential of these materials for the retention of pesticides was evaluated and Ti25-UVM-7 was selected as the best solid phase for analyte sorption. Then, several sampling parameters were optimized and analytical features such as breakthrough volume were determined. Using the designed samplers, quantitative retentions were achieved with recoveries in the range 93–107% for all analytes except for diazinon (82%). RSD values below 13% were obtained. Likewise, the sensitivity of the method was studied, and limits of quantification below 0.5 μg m−3 were obtained for all pesticides. The reusability of the material was also proved. The developed procedure has been applied to the air sampling and occupational risk assessment, during and after methyl-chlorpyrifos application in orange plantations. High concentrations and exposure rates above the limit value for ensure safe work conditions were obtained. At the same time, the air was sampled with XAD-2 samplers as a reference method, and results obtained with both devices were statistically comparable.

Modeling of Infiltration Characteristics by the Modified Kostiakov Method: A Case Study in Thuong River Alluvial Soil in Vietnam

The purpose of this study was to apply the modified Kostiakov method to determine the soil infiltration rate and permeated water amount of Thuong River alluvial soil for orange plantations in Lang Giang district, Bac Giang province, Vietnam. The soil particle size ranged from 0.02 to 2.00mm mainly found in the surface horizon (>77.7%). The soil was slightly acidic in the surface horizon, and highly acidic in the subsurface horizons (pHKCl from 3.42 to 4.79). The organic matter content of the surface horizon was mederate, while it was very low in the other horizons. The total nitrogen (N) content was low (0.15%) in the surface horizon and very low in the subsurface horizons (0.02-0.06%) while the available N was medium. The total phosphorus (P) content in the surface horizon was high (0.4%) and medium in the other horizons. Available P in the surface horizon was high (18.6mg per 100g soil) and decreased in lower depths to only 0.3mg per 100g soil in the deepest (5th) horizon. The total and available potassium measurements were very low. A filtration characteristic model was developed by using the modified Kostiakov method for alluvial soil. The constant values a, a, and b of the equation y = ata + b were 0.8035, 0.758, and 0.00346, respectively, which were smaller than 1. The average percentage difference between the actual and calculated values by the model was only 0.141%, indicating that the calculated values can accurately predict the actual data measurements in the field.

Modeling of Infiltration Characteristics by the Modified Kostiakov Method: A Case Study in Thuong River Alluvial Soil in Vietnam

The purpose of this study was to apply the modified Kostiakov method to determine the soil infiltration rate and permeated water amount of Thuong River alluvial soil for orange plantations in Lang Giang district, Bac Giang province, Vietnam. The soil particle size ranged from 0.02 to 2.00mm mainly found in the surface horizon (>77.7%). The soil was slightly acidic in the surface horizon, and highly acidic in the subsurface horizons (pHKCl from 3.42 to 4.79). The organic matter content of the surface horizon was mederate, while it was very low in the other horizons. The total nitrogen (N) content was low (0.15%) in the surface horizon and very low in the subsurface horizons (0.02-0.06%) while the available N was medium. The total phosphorus (P) content in the surface horizon was high (0.4%) and medium in the other horizons. Available P in the surface horizon was high (18.6mg per 100g soil) and decreased in lower depths to only 0.3mg per 100g soil in the deepest (5th) horizon. The total and available potassium measurements were very low. A filtration characteristic model was developed by using the modified Kostiakov method for alluvial soil. The constant values a, a, and b of the equation y = ata + b were 0.8035, 0.758, and 0.00346, respectively, which were smaller than 1. The average percentage difference between the actual and calculated values by the model was only 0.141%, indicating that the calculated values can accurately predict the actual data measurements in the field.

New records of Orchidaceae Juss. for the state from Hidalgo, Mexico

Two new orchid records are reported for Hidalgo, Notylia barkeri Lindl. and Trichocentrum cosymbephorum (C. Morren) R. Jiménez & Carnevali. The genus Notylia is reported for the first time, and the list of orchid flora is updated to include 110 taxa. Unexpectedly, the species were recorded in abandoned orange plantations rather than natural vegetation, likely because of the high anthropogenic pressure exerted on their natural populations. These new records highlight the importance of continuing to survey regions such as Hidalgo with scarce orchid records, including both natural and modified vegetation.

Impact of Farmland Abandonment on Water Resources and Soil Conservation in Citrus Plantations in Eastern Spain

Due to the reduction in the prices of oranges on the market and social changes such as the ageing of the population, traditional orange plantation abandonment in the Mediterranean is taking place. Previous research on land abandonment impact on soil and water resources has focused on rainfed agriculture abandonment, but there is no research on irrigated land abandonment. In the Valencia Region—the largest producer of oranges in Europe—abandonment is resulting in a quick vegetation recovery and changes in soil properties, and then in water erosion. Therefore, we performed rainfall simulation experiments (0.28 m2; 38.8 mm h−1) to determine the soil losses in naveline orange plantations with different ages of abandonment (1, 2, 3, 5, 7 and 10 years of abandonment) which will allow for an understanding of the temporal changes in soil and water losses after abandonment. Moreover, these results were also compared with an active plantation (0). The results show that the soils of the active orange plantations have higher runoff discharges and higher erosion rates due to the use of herbicides than the plots after abandonment. Once the soil is abandoned for one year, the plant recovery reaches 33% of the cover and the erosion rate drops one order of magnitude. This is related to the delay in the runoff generation and the increase in infiltration rates. After 2, 3, 5, 7 and 10 years, the soil reduced bulk density, increase in organic matter, plant cover, and soil erosion rates were found negligible. We conclude that the abandonment of orange plantations reduces soil and water losses and can serve as a nature-based solution to restore the soil services, goods, and resources. The reduction in the soil losses was exponential (from 607.4 g m−2 in the active plot to 7.1 g m−2 in the 10-year abandoned one) but the water losses were linear (from 77.2 in active plantations till 12.8% in the 10-year abandoned ones).

Survival analysis of orange tree varieties in Spain

The fundamental basis of Spanish citriculture is its varietal composition, which contributes to the existence of a marketing calendar that extends to almost the entire year. As time goes by, the supply of varieties is continuously renewed, requiring significant investments by growers. The guarantee of a quality supply to the markets, on one hand, and the optimal result of the investments made, on the other, require that, in managing the sector, the characteristics determining the survival of the varieties be taken into account. The main purpose of this study was therefore to assess the influence of the attributes affecting the longevity of orange plantations from a technical and commercial point of view. The duration analysis technique applied to the different varieties has been used. The main attributes determining the elimination of a variety were the presence of seeds in the fruit and the tendency towards a decrease in surface size. Permanence- or survival-friendly attributes included the calibre (large size of the variety, within its group) and the price received by farmers. Precocity, frost resistance, commercial quality and resistance to fruit fly did not have the expected level of significance.

Exploring Antagonistic Candidate Fungi for Controling Pathogenic Fungi (Colletotricum gloeosporioides) Causing Anthracnose Disease in Kintamani Siam Orange Plants (Citrus Nobillis Lour Var. Hass)

Orange plantation center in Bali are located in Bangli Regency, Kintamani District. Kintamani orange plantations cultivated three types of oranges: tangerine, selayer, and mandarin oranges. The famous orange in Bali today is Kintamani orange, tangerine type. The typical flavor and aroma of Kintamani tangerine make it is favored by consumers from various regions. Based on the information from Bangli District Agriculture Office and the results of field surveys in the last two years (in 2013 and 2014), cultivation of orange in Kintamani has been infected with anthracnose disease. The disease is characterized by symptoms whereby brown twigs spread to the leaves and fruit, and the fruits which are about to be harvested rot simultaneously and eventually fall due to decay. This condition causes farmers to suffer significant losses. The cause of anthracnose on Kintamani orange is Colletotrichum gloeosporioides . The Control of these diseases has been carried out by farmers with various synthetic fungicides but the disease is still widespread. It is feared that the uncontrolled use of synthetic pesticides can harm the environment, cause resistance to C. gloeosporioides fungi, and kill non-target beneficial micro-organism. It is necessary to conduct research that aims to control anthracnose biologically to maintain the ecological balance and environmental safety. Based on the results of this research by exploring the fungi on healthy plants around orange trees infected with anthracnose diseases, nine isolates of antagonist candidate fungus were obtained based on colony color of fungal hyphae (IS1, IS2, IS3, IS4, IS5. IS6, IS7, IS8, IS9). Based on the test results of the in vitro dual culture, two candidates of antagonistic fungal isolates were selected, the isolates IS4 and IS7. It was because on day 7 after the second dual culture, these two isolates had the highest percentage of inhibition, 89.22% and 85.11 % respectively. Based on the conventional and molecular identifications, it is known that the two candidate isolates of antagonistic fungus (IS4 and IS7) belong to one species of the Aspergillus aculeatus.

CHP Toolkit: Case Study of LAIe Sensitivity to Discontinuity of Canopy Cover in Fruit Plantations

This paper presents an open-source canopy height profile (CHP) toolkit designed for processing small-footprint full-waveform LiDAR data to obtain the estimates of effective leaf area index (LAIe) and CHPs. The use of the toolkit is presented with a case study of LAIe estimation in discontinuous-canopy fruit plantations. The experiments are carried out in two study areas, namely, orange and almond plantations, with different percentages of canopy cover (48% and 40%, respectively). For comparison, two commonly used discrete-point LAIe estimation methods are also tested. The LiDAR LAIe values are first computed for each of the sites and each method as a whole, providing “apparent” site-level LAIe, which disregards the discontinuity of the plantations' canopies. Since the toolkit allows for the calculation of the study area LAIe at different spatial scales, between-tree-level clumping can be easily accounted for and is then used to illustrate the impact of the discontinuity of canopy cover on LAIe retrieval. The LiDAR LAIe estimates are therefore computed at smaller scales as a mean of LAIe in various grid-cell sizes, providing estimates of “actual” site-level LAIe. Subsequently, the LiDAR LAIe results are compared with theoretical models of “apparent” LAIe versus “actual” LAIe, based on known percent canopy cover in each site. The comparison of those models to LiDAR LAIe derived from the smallest grid-cell sizes against the estimates of LAIe for the whole site has shown that the LAIe estimates obtained from the CHP toolkit provided values that are closest to those of theoretical models.

Roystonea oleracea(Arecaceae) communities in Venezuela

In Venezuela, Roystonea oleracea commonly forms communities in flooded and swampy areas on fertile soils mainly in the northern portion of the Orinoco river basin. The density of R. oleracea varies across its range from dominating the canopy to being rare. Communities dominated by R. oleracea are distributed across the country from the east (Sucre and Monagas States) to the south-west (Barinas State). In the western-central region the Roystonea community is mainly present along the Tocuyo, Yaracuy and Aroa river basins. In all most cases, R. oleracea is found with other palms such as Bactris major var. major, trees including Tabebuia rosea, Ficus spp., Spondias mombin, Triplaris americana, Hura crepitans or herbs (e.g. Heliconia spp.). In the western part of its range, it is found with another set of species, including Anacardium excelsum, Hirtella spp. and the large palm Attalea butyracea; in the eastern parts of its range it is found with the climbing palm Desmoncus horridus subsp. horridus and the tree Virola surinamensis and the mangroves Rhizophora racemosa and Avicennia germinans in estuarine environments of the Orinoco Delta. Human intervention in these communities has been intense due to agriculture involving clearing for sugar cane and orange plantations, hunting and extraction of young parrots (Psittacidae) from nests for the pet trade. These activities have endangered the survival and conservation of R. oleracea forests, which have been greatly reduced across the country.

Resistencia de Mycosphaerella citri a benomil en plantaciones de cítricos de Costa Rica.

Research was carried out on 24 orange plantations in Costa Rica in order to determine the sensitivity to benomyl of Mycosphaerella citri Whiteside - fungi causing the citrus greasy spot. Only thirteen samples yielded enough ascospores to determine their sensitivity to benomyl. Twelve of the samples represented an area of approximately 4.000 ha from the Northern part of Costa Rica (the cantons of San Carlos and Los Chiles), and one was from a nonsprayed home orchard in Orosi, in the Central Valley located more than 250 km away from San Carlos. AIl of the samples from the Northem region yielded benomyl resistant ascospores, although benomyl is not normally used in those areas. Conversely, 99% of the ascospores obtained in Orosi were sensitive; this suggests that the M. citri wild population is benomyl-sensitive. It was found that 75% of the orchards sampled came from the same nursery, where the phytosanitary program includes five benomyl applications ayear. Furthermore, 10 M.citri samples obtained from this nursery were benomyl-resistant. This suggests that the benomyl-resistant isolations found in the plantations were introduced there through the nursery stock.

Geographically weighted regression of land cover determinants of Plasmodium falciparum transmission in the Ashanti Region of Ghana.

BackgroundMalaria is a mosquito-borne parasitic disease that causes severe mortality and morbidity, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. As the vectors predominantly bite between dusk and dawn, risk of infection is determined by the abundance of P. falciparum infected mosquitoes in the surroundings of the households. Remote sensing is commonly employed to detect associations between land use/land cover (LULC) and mosquito-borne diseases. Due to challenges in LULC identification and the fact that LULC merely functions as a proxy for mosquito abundance, assuming spatially homogenous relationships may lead to overgeneralized conclusions.MethodsData on incidence of P. falciparum parasitaemia were recorded by active and passive follow-up over two years. Nine LULC types were identified through remote sensing and ground-truthing. Spatial associations of LULC and P. falciparum parasitaemia rate were described in a semi-parametric geographically weighted Poisson regression model.ResultsComplete data were available for 878 individuals, with an annual P. falciparum rate of 3.2 infections per person-year at risk. The influences of built-up areas (median incidence rate ratio (IRR): 0.94, IQR: 0.46), forest (median IRR: 0.9, IQR: 0.51), swampy areas (median IRR: 1.15, IQR: 0.88), as well as banana (median IRR: 1.02, IQR: 0.25), cacao (median IRR: 1.33, IQR: 0.97) and orange plantations (median IRR: 1.11, IQR: 0.68) on P. falciparum rate show strong spatial variations within the study area. Incorporating spatial variability of LULC variables increased model performance compared to the spatially homogenous model.ConclusionsThe observed spatial variability of LULC influence in parasitaemia would have been masked by traditional Poisson regression analysis assuming a spatially constant influence of all variables. We conclude that the spatially varying effects of LULC on P. falciparum parasitaemia may in fact be associated with co-factors not captured by remote sensing, and suggest that future studies assess small-scale spatial variation of vegetation to circumvent generalised assumptions on ecological associations that may in fact be artificial.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1476-072X-13-35) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

USING CAPTIVE SENTINELS TO COLLECT WILD TRIATOMINES IN THE REGION OF MARÍLIA-SP, BRAZIL

In order to collect wild triatomines in the municipality of Marilia, two captive sentinel sites were installed in a remnant riparian zone in the Atlantic Forest comprising 34 hectares located on the Nossa Senhora Aparecida farm. One enclosure was built on the margin and another inside the forest, about 200 meters from the edge, using rabbits as bait to attract wild triatomines. In addition to the caged rabbits, active searches for triatomines were performed in tree holes, bird nests and armadillo burrows by spraying Pirisa 1080-L1E1 aerosol dislodger. The sentinels were maintained for one year and four months. During this period six active searches were performed, but without success in attracting or colonizing wild triatomines. One factor that has probably intervened in the triatomine colonization is the periodic application of insecticides formulated with pyrethroid in farms neighboring the forest to fight Diaphorina citri in orange plantations.

The carbon sequestration potential of tree crop plantations

Carbon (C) conservation and sequestration in many developing countries needs to be accompanied by socio-economic improvements. Tree crop plantations can be a potential path for coupling climate change mitigation and economic development by providing C sequestration and supplying wood and non-wood products to meet domestic and international market requirements at the same time. Financial compensation for such plantations could potentially be covered by the Clean Development Mechanism under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) Kyoto Protocol, but its suitability has also been suggested for integration into REDD + (reducing emissions from deforestation, forest degradation and enhancement of forest C stocks) currently being negotiated under the United Nations FCCC. We assess the aboveground C sequestration potential of four major plantation crops – cocoa (Theobroma cacao), oil palm (Elaeis guineensis), rubber (Hevea brasiliensis), and orange (Citrus sinesis) – cultivated in the tropics. Measurements were conducted in Ghana and allometric equations were applied to estimate biomass. The largest C potential was found in the rubber plantations (214 tC/ha). Cocoa (65 tC/ha) and orange (76 tC/ha) plantations have a much lower C content, and oil palm (45 tC/ha) has the lowest C potential, assuming that the yield is not used as biofuel. There is considerable C sequestration potential in plantations if they are established on land with modest C content such as degraded forest or agricultural land, and not on land with old-growth forest. We also show that simple C assessment methods can give reliable results, which makes it easier for developing countries to partake in REDD + or other payment schemes.