Estimating the Potential of Community Carbon Forestry: A Case from Champadevi Community Forest

Abstract

Climate change is a global concern. Carbon dioxide (Co ) in the atmosphere is regarded as the most important gas that causes climate change. This gas cycles among three major reservoirs, the land (soil, rock and biomass), the water and the air. Forest biomass plays important role in this cycle as the forest has the potential to store large amount of carbon as a carbon pool. The concern of the present world is that the areas of these forests are decreasing day by day in an alarming rate. The aim of the study was to explore the condition of forest, to determine the total carbon pool in a community managed forest and to identify the tree species with high carbon storing capacity. So in this study, carbon content in forest biomass was calculated. The association of carbon pool with biodiversity was determined by significance test. Besides, the condition of existing forest was also determined. The study area is Chandragiri hill that lies in the south western part of the Kathmandu valley. Champadevi community forest in Chandragiri hill is about 12 km in south west direction from Kathmandu city covering an area of about 136.2 ha. For the calculation of biomass and carbon, non-destructive field measurements were made using diameter at breast height (dbh) measurement method developed by NARMSAP and DoF, 2000. Measurements were made for different elevation ranging from 1500m to 2300m with definite number of plots at each elevation. To acquire knowledge on existing forest management practices, interview with the chairman of Forest Users Group(FUGs) and discussion with two different focus groups; one with women group only and other with mixed group i.e. male and female both, were made. Total carbon content in the forest was 2 estimated to be 24.72 tonC/ha. The result shows that there is greater species density of Quercus glauca (Phalat); while Quercus floribunda has the higher carbon stock capacity. Carbon stock in biomass is high at an elevation of 2300m and is low at an elevation of 1800m. In regard to the management of forest, most of the issues are related to the lack of awareness among the members of FUGs and illegal smuggling of the timbers and forest products. Constraints that are most often faced by the FUGs in management of forest are either from the local people or from government authority in different aspects. In conclusion, it is found that there is a potential of storing and sequestering carbon in the community managed natural forest. Community managed forest if managed properly, can restore carbon and contribute to climate change mitigation.