Tracking forest recovery: Early biomass and carbon stock monitoring in the Rohingya Refugee camps, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh

Abstract

Rohingya influx in Bangladesh destructed about 3200 ha of the reserved forest of Cox's Bazar South Forest Division. The restoration initiatives were launched in 2019 for 292 ha of degraded forest areas. This study assessed biomass and carbon stock in the restored sites of the Rohingya Refugee camps. Thirty-four timber, fodder, fruits, and fuelwood species were planted and the natural regeneration of 14 native species was recorded in the restored sites. The density and basal area ranges of the restored sites were from 0 to 4600 trees/ha and 0 to 33.47 m2/ha, respectively. The total aboveground and below-ground biomass were 33.34±5.76 t/ha and 2.26±0.32 t/ha, respectively. The total carbon stock in five pools varied from 8.84 to 149.86 (t/ha) with a mean of 93.90±4.85 t/ha, with soil carbon representing the largest pool. The mean carbon pools for above-ground (trees and undergrowth), lotter, dead woody debris, root and soil (up to 30 cm depth) were 16.37 t/ha, 0.15 t/ha, 0.11 t/ha, 1.03 t/ha and 76.29 t/ha respectively. The best fit allometric models (adjusted R2 > 0.97) for the above-ground biomass and carbon stock in trees were Ln(Y) = 1.30 + 1.11 Ln(x1) and Ln(Y) = 0.61 + 1.11 Ln(x1), respectively. The derived allometric models demonstrated high accuracy, providing tools for restoration monitoring. These findings highlight the success of reforestation in enhancing biomass and carbon sequestration, although continued protection of restored areas is essential for sustainable forest management and climate mitigation.