Citation: Kehali Dereje, Teshome Soromessa and Abeje Eshete (2022) Carbon Storage of Selected Church Forests in Northern Ethiopia: Implications for Climate Change Mitigation, European Journal of Agriculture and Forestry Research, Vol.10, No.1, pp. 25-48
Abstract: Forests are known to play an important role in regulating the global climate, by serving as a natural sink of CO2 to mitigate climate change. Churches and monasteries have a long history of planting, protecting and conserving trees. This study on selected Church forests aimed to estimate the carbon stock and its variation along altitudinal gradients. Primary data collection was carried out through by field inventory and secondary data were obtained from different sources. To collect vegetation data, particularly above Ground Biomass (AGB), comprising 64 plots, with a size of 20 m x 20 m at an interval of 100 m, were laid along established transects 200 m apart. For litter and soil sample collection, five sub quadrats of 1 m x 1 m were established at the four corners and center of every sub quadrat. A composite method was also used for litter and soil sampling. Data analysis of various carbon pools measured in the forests were analyzed on Excel data sheet and R software. The results revealed that the total mean carbon stock density of Church forests was 133.14 t/ha, aboveground biomass carbon was 24.73 t/ha, belowground biomass carbon was 6.41t/ha, litter biomass carbon was 1.80 t/ha and soil carbon stock was 100.19 t/ha. Furthermore, the results of this study showed that altitude has no significant impact on carbon pools. Overall, this study may enlighten our knowledge of the carbon stock of the study site and contribute to Church forests playing a role in climate change mitigation.
Keywords: altitude; allometric equation; carbon stock; church forest; climate change; forests
