Carbon Sequestration in Pinus roxburghii. Sarg Forest on Two Different Aspects in Daman Hill, Nepal

By 2050 Nepal has committed to having net zero-CO2 emissions, and therefore, there is a need for improved effort to assess C accounting in energy, industry, and forestry sectors. Forests are critical to the global C cycle because they store large amounts of atmospheric C in biomass and soil. The estimation of the C sequestration potential of any forest is crucial since it significantly contributes to the mitigation of global climate change. In this context, we estimated the biomass and C sequestration on two contrasting aspects of Pinus roxburghii-Sarg forest in Daman hill in Makawanpur district, Nepal. The study found that tree density of 210 per ha in the southern aspect, while in the northern, it was found 180 per ha. Tree biomass estimated on the southern aspect was 434.68 t ha-1 and 426.16 t ha-1 on the north. Accordingly, on the southern forest, C stock was found to 204.30 t ha-1 as compared to 200.32 t ha-1 on the north. Both biomass increment and C sequestration rate was found to be higher on the southern aspect than the north. The study suggests that dbh classes, and aspects factors play a crucial role in biomass and C sequestration. P. roxburghii forests are important C sinks because of their capacity to store large amounts of C in biomass. Thus, conservation and sustainable management of these native forest ecosystems are suggested.

Keywords: aspect, biomass increment, carbon sequestration, dbh classes, tree density