Ground Forest Inventory and Assessment of Carbon Stocks in Sierra Leone, West Africa

Abstract

Forest and woodland are renewable natural resources providing basic human necessities. They have the ability to sequester carbon and mitigate climate change. Sustainable forest management is guided by forest mensuration and inventory which include measuring and calculating growth and changes in trees and forests. The objective of the study was to estimate timber resources and carbon stock using simple hand tools in Kasewe and Singamba forests in the southern part of Sierra Leone. All trees with diameter at breast height (DBH) ≥ 10 cm were measured in every plot for DBH, and three trees were measured for height. The correlation between mean wood volume and carbon stock was highly significant. For Kasewe plantation forest, mean wood volume and carbon stock were 151 m3 ha−1 and 44 t C ha−1, respectively, and for the Singamba natural forest, they were 181 m3 ha−1 and 82 t C ha−1, respectively. The linear correlation between basal area and volume, DBH and volume and basal area and total biomass was significant for the plantation species tested. Realistic national forest inventory and community forestry are inevitable for sustainable forest management in Sierra Leone.