A Baseline Assessment of Soil Organic Carbon in the Mangroves of the Bakassi Peninsula South West Cameroon

The mangrove soils as one of the global soil types is a major carbon store that helps to curb the rising global temperatures. This is not unconnected to their high carbon storing and sequestration potentials of the peat soils. The conclusion is characterized by some knowledge gaps on the actual carbon stock and sequestration potentials of some mangroves soils on the Central African Sub regional landscape. Some of these areas are the Bakassi mangroves in the South West Cameroon. Cross border conflicts, piracy and over exploitation have rendered the sourcing of appropriate data on its carbon stock and sequestration potentials difficult. In strive to bridge this knowledge gap, this work carried out baseline assessments of the carbon stock and sequestration rate of this peat soil. To achieve the study objectives, stratified random opportunistic sampling using an inventory design based on five forest canopy height classes, with collection of peat soils using a soil auger to different depth for laboratory analysis was done. Soils Organic Carbon stocks were estimated from soils to a depth of 100cm and determined using chromic acid digestion and spectrophotometric analysis. Parameters determined were bulk density and percentage carbon. Results showed that soil carbon stock density ranged from 705.8 Mg ha to 546.2 Mg ha . Thus on average, for a hectare in Bakassi, the Soil Organic carbon stock was 632.65 Mg ha Kamah Pascal Bumtu | Nkwatoh Athanasius Fuashi | Longonje Simon Ngomba "A Baseline Assessment of Soil Organic Carbon in the Mangroves of the Bakassi Peninsula South-West Cameroon" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-4 | Issue-3 , April 2020, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd30515.doc