WP2 - Green house gas emissions from vegetation and soil

In order to calculate the carbon storage potential in forested areas under REDD+, we are faced with three main challenges:

Quantification of aboveground biomass

Quantification of belowground carbon stocks

Quantification of greenhouse gas emissions fro various land uses.

The I-REDD+ project focuses on mountainous areas in Southeast Asia, an area that has received comparably less scientific attention, and is inherently difficult to work in due to heterogeneity in land use and soil conditions and limited infrastructure.

In order for the cost of estimation of carbon stocks not to exceed the potential value of carbon credits, it is essential that we develop cheap methods or proxies that can estimate carbon stocks in these landscapes. The workpackage seeks to develop allometric equations between above and below-ground biomass, quantitatively predict soil carbon stocks based on land use histories and soil quality, and to estimate greenhouse gas emissions from the land uses which are spreading in these areas, namely commercial plantations.

By Cope Media