Structure, Biomass Carbon Stock and Sequestration Rate of Mangroves in the Bakassi Peninsula, S W Cameroon

The forest plays a major role in stabilizing increasing temperatures due to its climate mitigation capacity. This is not unconnected to the carbon storing and sequestration potentials of forests. The mangrove as one of the global forest types is said to be a major carbon store. This conclusion is characterized by some knowledge gaps on the actual carbon stock and sequestration potentials of some mangroves forest 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 a baseline assessment of the carbon stock and sequestration rate of the area. To achieve the study objectives, stratified random opportunistic sampling inventory design based on five forest canopy height classes, tree Diameter at Breast Height DBH and canopy nature using digital elevation model DEM of the shuttle Radar Topographic Mission SRTM . This combination evaluated the species type and forest structure around the areas. Carbon stocks were estimated with the use of allometric equations using biomass data collected within main plots, sub plots, micro plots and transects. Results showed that mean biomass carbon stock density for the height classes for Bakassi ranged from 33.5 Mg ha to 598.9Mg ha. Thus on average, for a hectare in Bakassi, the carbon stock is 880.437 Mg ha and a sequestration rate of 3231.204 tCO2e ha . Kamah Pascal Bumtu | Nkwatoh Athanasius Fuashi | Longonje Simon Ngomba ""Structure, Biomass Carbon Stock and Sequestration Rate of Mangroves in the Bakassi Peninsula, S-W Cameroon"" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-4 | Issue-2 , February 2020, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd30171.pdf Paper Url : https://www.ijtsrd.com/humanities-and-the-arts/environmental-science/30171/structure-biomass-carbon-stock-and-sequestration-rate-of-mangroves-in-the-bakassi-peninsula-s-w-cameroon/kamah-pascal-bumtu