Carbon Stock Recovery after Selective Logging in the East Region of Cameroon

Abstract

Tropical forests have large carbon stocks and their conservation is a very important mitigation measure against global warming. However, this carbon pool is the most vulnerable to anthropogenic activities like selective logging and little is known about its recovery. This study aimed to determine the carbon stock recovery after selectively logging using different allometric equations in six 1 ha permanent monitoring plots established in logged and unlogged forest types. Each 1 ha was divided into 25, 20 × 20 m and the DBH of all trees ≥ 2 cm was measured in 2005/2006 and re-measured in 2011/2012. The logged forests had the highest % change in the species richness indicating the impacts of logging. The presence of exploitable commercial trees in both forest types suggests their recruitment after logging. The insignificant difference in the AGB using different allometric equations is an indication that the Pan tropical equation is a good reference for the calculations of AGB in moist tropical forests. The 59.4% recovery rate in forests of 21 YAL indicates that 30 years is not enough for the recovery of the Carbon timber stock as the unlogged forests had a 77.7%. This calls for a review of forest management silvicultural activities for sustainable forest management.