Investigation and estimation of carbon absorption by natural forest in ba vi national park

MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT VIETNAM FORESTRY UNIVERSITY STUDENT GRADUATION THESIS INVESTIGATION and ESTIMATION OF CARBON ABSORPTION BY NATURAL FOREST IN BAVI NATIONA

MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT

VIETNAM FORESTRY UNIVERSITY

STUDENT GRADUATION THESIS

INVESTIGATION and ESTIMATION OF CARBON ABSORPTION

BY NATURAL FOREST IN BAVI NATIONAL PARK

Major: Advanced Curriculum in Natural Resources Management Code:

Faculty: Forest Resources and Environmental Management

Advanced Education Program Developed in collaboration with Colorado State University, USA

Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr BUI THE DOI

Ha Noi, 11/2014

ACKNOWLEDGENT

This thesis has been completed in based on Nature Resource Management major – advance program During thesis completion, I received help and support from teachers of forest resources and environment management faculty and training division officers;

I also thank the management committee, officers of Ba Vi National Park, who provided

me with information and helped us in forest investigation on there I also would say “thank you” to all of teachers, who taught and helped me to complete this thesis;

Specially, I grateful to Assoc Prof Dr Bui The Doi for his supervision during time of research completion I want to show deep gratitude to my team, who work with me directly

in Ba Vi and data analysis time

During the implementing the thesis, due to limitation of time and finance, also human resources acquainted with the actual work, my research is inevitable shortcoming I look forward to receiving some comments from teachers for more completion

Thank you!

Hanoi, October 23, 2014 Author: Pham Nhat Tan

Contents ACKNOWLEDGENT

ABSTRACT

I INTRODUCTION 1

II RESEARCH OBJECTIVES 3

1 Long-term objective 3

2 Short-term objectives 3

3.1 Research area description: 4

3.2 Establishment of plots: 5

3.3 Carbon estimation methods: 7

3.3.1 Direct use values: 7

3.3.2 Indirect use value: 8

4.1 Forest characteristics: 10

4.1.1 Forest composition of status IIA, IIIA1 10

4.1.2 Forest density; diameter; top height 12

4.2 Carbon absorption estimation: 14

4.2.1 Wood volume and dry biomass of plots 14

4.2.2 Carbon dioxide absorption 16

4.3 Carbon value (in currency) 17

V CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION 19

5.1 Conclusion 19

5.2 Shortcomings 20

5.3 Recommendation 20 REFERENCES

Table List

Table 4.1: Forest composition formula 11

Table 4.2: Percentage of family in plot 12

Table 4.3: Forest density & DBH 13

Table 4.4: Relationship of DBH and top height 14

Table 4.5: Wood volume and dry biomass 15

Table 6: CO2 absorption 17

Table 7: CO 2 absorption value/ ha 18

ABSTRACT

Carbon absorption is key tool of Payment for Environment Services Therefore, after investigation Ba Vi National Park, I will apply equation to calculate amount of carbon sequestration in plot I used formula TCS = AGTC + BC (where TCS: total carbon absorption, AGTC: carbon sequestration in above ground body, BC: carbon sequestration below ground) I used formula from Bao Huy model (2011) Carbon in whole tree above ground (trunk, bark, leaves and twigs): AGTC (kg) = 0.0428*DBH2.4628 (R2= 0.9378); and carbon in root tree: BC (kg) = 0.051*DBH2 – 0.6756*DBH + 2.8901 (R2 = 0.9983)

I INTRODUCTION

Ecosystem monitoring and assessment programs are critical for resource management, given how ecosystems vary in type, size, landscape settings, and the dramatic losses and degradation that have occurred These programs are increasingly addressing not just the loss of native ecosyste, but also their condition Data on the ecological condition of ecosystems can be used for ambient monitoring of status and trends, to prioritize sites for conservation or restoration, to guide mitigation applications at site and watershed or landscape scales and to contribute to land use planning (Fennessy et al 2007, FaberLangendoen et al 2008) In the world, carbon stock is tool of Payment for

Environment Services, therefore it was study carefully Example “Research support for national forest system carbon assessments”, “Reduce uncertainty in the use of allometic biomass equation for predicting above ground tree biomass in mixed

secondary forest” In Vietnam, we have some draft of “Method to quantify national

park on terrestrial land” We already had researched on “Economy quantification of Phu Long mangroves forest” and some researcher’s assessment value of national park as

“Estimate carbon absorption in Cuc Phuong national park” However we have not any

research to evaluate the carbon of Ba Vi national park Actually, measuring ecological value of Ba Vi national park play an tremendous to determine who and how much will be received when we apply the mechanism of Payment for Environment Services

According to Ba Vi National Park Management Board (2000), the total area of the national park is currently 6,786 ha, comprising a strict protection area of 1,092 ha, a forest rehabilitation area of 4,646 ha and an administration and services area of 1,048 ha Ba Vi is included on the 2010 list as a 6,726 ha national park, including 4,700 ha of natural forest According to data in Vietnam National Park (2014), until 8/2013, scientific research has been identified 1,526 plant species, belonging to 209 families of 6 Tracheophytasin Ba Vi

Book (2007), IUCN The Ba Vi National Park also has 45 species of mammals, 115 species of birds, 27 species of amphibians, 61 reptiles, 86 species of insects, of which 23 precious and rare species are listed in the Red Book such as coolies, horse bears, yellow pangolins, white pheasants, monkeys, leopards, bears, flying squirrels…

Forest investigation is important duty in forest management, especially estimation of carbon stock for REDD+ is necessary to do in long term Year by year, we can see forest changing of direction, what problem is occurring Another thing, we should estimate the amount of carbon to define tools for supporting local people – who protected forest in protected area That is the base for applying PES for condition improvement for poor area, and reduce human impacts on protected areas That why I carried out the study on

“Investigation and estimation of carbon absorption in Ba Vi national park

II RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

III METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research area description:

Ba Vi National Park is center on Mount Ba Vi, an mountain isolated situated about 50

km west of Hanoi The mountain rises steeply out of a plain that rarely exceeds 30 m in elevation In general, slopes on the western side of Ba Vi mountain, at an average of 25°, are steeper than those on the east Above 400 m, the slopes on the western side may reach a gradient of 35°, and rocky cliffs are present Mount Ba Vi has three peaks: the highest is Dinh Vua at 1,296 m, followed by Tan Vien at 1,226 m and Ngoc Hoa at 1,120 m Because

of the mountainous topography, the climate at Ba Vi varies with altitude Above 500 m, fog enshrouds the top of the mountain on most days

General characteristics of Ba Vi is dominated by the latitude north factors, monsoon mechanism A combination of monsoon and latitude creates humid tropical climate with cold and dry winters Average annual temperature in the area is 23.4oC Temperature can down to 2.7oC and be up to 42oC At 400m high average temperature of 20.6oC while at elevation above 1000m, it is only 16oC Absolute temperature can lower down by 0.2oC The higher absolute temperature reaches to 33.1oC Average annual rainfall is 2,500ml, unevenly distributed during the year, concentrated in July, August 86.1% is air humidity Lowland is usually dry in December and January From height above 400m there is no dry season Northeast winds in the winters with a frequency are greater than 40%

Forest type in Ba Vi National Park

We determine and establish plots with size of plots are 1000m2 (40m*25m) and 5 plots with area 16m2 (4m*4m), the longer side is paralleled with the contour line

sub-To set up the rectangle plot we suggested following steps:

 Step 1: Set a start point

 Step 2: Stand at the start point and use stick to make the direction for side of plot rectangle by one person

 Step 3: Use the measuring tape to measure the distance from start point to seconded point (follow direction in step 1) by another

 Step 4: Make sure the plot is a rectangle the corner in 2 side must be 900 by use a corner of a book

 Step 5: after setting up the plot with stake makers at every 10m on each side of plot use poly rode to win the plot thought the stake makers

 Step 6: record the general information (coordinates at plot center) in the note

 Step 7: establish plot to survey regeneration trees In each plot establish 5 plot with area 16m2(4*4m) 4 sub-plots in 4 corners and 1 sub-plot in center The rectangle plots design is chosen and presented in the figure below

sub-3.3 Carbon estimation methods:

3.3.1 Direct use values:

Are value of raw natural resources and product and directly used in production processing, consumption, business of human as food, medicine plant, gen resources… (Phuong.V.T, 2014) To calculate direct value of Ba Vi national park I will base on forest reserve

Quantify forest product measuring method:

 Using the chalk to tree numbering by Sequential numbers, beginning with 1 for every new plot

 Tree species: Determining the species of each observed tree and write down its name in an unambiguous manner Maybe local name or botanic name, but it needs to be consistent and understandable, local names can be translated later in the office

 Diameter at breast height (DBH): Using caliper to measure diameter at 1.3m height The measuring unit for the diameter is cm with one decimal

Tree height: In each plot, measure height and height bole of every tree in plot radius 6m, 20cm< tree DBH < 40cm in plot radius 14m and just tree DBH > 40cm in plot radius 20m Instrument is Blume – Leiss

b Data analysis:

Determine forest reserve based on forest types

Where: i: order of tree in plot

Vplot: volume of woody trees in plot (m3);

D i: diameter at 1.3m of tree ith

H i: top height of tree ith

F i: tapering factor of tree ith ~ 0.45 i: tree order in plot (i = 1, 2, 3… n)

Determine volume of 1 hectare forest:

Where: M: volume of 1 forest stand (m3/ha)

Splot: area of plot (m2)

3.3.2 Indirect use value:

Is economic values of environment services and ecological function which are made by national park such as carbon absorption, water quality, water flow, flooding control, erosion control… (Phuong.V.T, 2014) In this research, I will measure the carbon absorption to calculate in direct value of Ba Vi national park

Measuring carbon absorption:

Data, which were be collected when I investigated the plots, have been applied to calculate amount of carbon absorption of forest in Ba Vi national park

a Determine the biomass and carbon stock of woody tree

Determine the wood volume

Research on biomass and carbon pools in the forest types and established plots for each kind of forest Each plot is 1000m2 and calculate the trees have D1.3 ≥ 6cm

Vplot =

Determine the dry biomass:

Each plot is 1000m2 and calculate the trees have D1,3 ≥ 6cm look up the wood density table of each plant species investigated and apply formula calculate carbon biomass and stock of Ketterings et al (2001):

B = ABG + BGB AGB = r*ρ*D(2+c)BGB = ¼ AGB Where: B is dry biomass (kg/tree)

AGB: above ground biomass (m3)

BGB: below ground biomass (m3)

D is diameter at breast height

p: wood density (oven-dry weight / green volume) ρ = 0.62 g/cm3

r: parameter that is constant over wide range geographical areas, r = 0.11

c: coefficient accumulation is 0.467

Calculate the total of volume CO2 absorbed per ha - Bao Huy’s model (2009)

Carbon in whole tree above ground (trunk, bark, leaves and twigs)

AGTC (kg) = 0.0428*DBH2.4628 (R2= 0.9378) Carbon in root tree: BC (kg) = 0.051*DBH2 – 0.6756*DBH + 2.8901 (R2 = 0.9983) Total carbon sequestration: TCS (kg) = AGTC + BC

Amount of CO2 absorbed (kg) = TCS * 44/12

VC = Mc x Pc

VC: CO2 absorption value (USD/ton)

MC: total CO2 absorption per ha (ton/ha)

Pc = 5USD/ton

IV RESULT AND DISCUSSION:

4.1 Forest characteristics:

This research focuses on nature forest, so I use forest status map to define location for establishment plots

4.1.1 Forest composition of status IIA, IIIA1

The IIA and IIIA1 forest are affected by local people in long time So most individuals

in there are invaluable and light demanding tree species such as Litsea aff glutinosa (Lour) C.B Roxb; Trema orientalis (L.) Bl; Liquidambar formosana Hance …The forest

composition function is simple

According to pervious research, in order to determine forest composition I will use formula: IV% = (N% +G%)/2 (where N% is percentage of density, G% is percentage of base area for each species in plot) Results are presented in table 4.1

Based on result, we recognized 52 species in 4 plots Looking at table 4.1, we can see 6 species form the forest composition formula for plot 1 That numbers for plot 2, plot 3, and

plot 4 are 4, 3 and 4 species, respectively The Adinandra sp belongs to Theaceae family is

dominant tree in location 1 with 50.5% In plot 2, although Wendlandia paniculata DC

species are highest percentage amount number species (18.3%), in forest composition ratio

of Liquidambar formosana Hance species is higher The total important value of plot 3’s equation is 46.2% It consist of 3 species Alangium chinense (Lour) Rehd; Cinnamomum

iners; Mallotus yunnanensis In the plot 4, Ficus fulva Reinw ex Blume is dominant tree

with 18.8%

Table 4.1: Forest composition formula

17.8Ciin+14.4Maco + 14.0Alch + 55others

16.3 Fifu + 13.7 Apdi +12.3Arba +7.0 Cipa + 46.1 others

Adinandra sp – Adsp; Alangium chinense (Lour) Rehd – Alch; Aporosa dioica – Apdi; Archidendron balansae (Oliv) – Arba; Cinnadenia paniculata – Cipa; Cinnamomum iners – Ciin; Dillenia sp – Disp; Ficus fulva Reinw ex Blume – Fifu; Liquidambar formosana

Hance - Lifo; Macaranga denticulata Muell-Arg – Made; Machilus grandifolia – Magr;

Mallotus cochinchinensis Lour – Maco; Manglietia hainanensi – Maha; Wendlandia paniculata DC – Wepa

Comparing with research in Thuong Tien nature reserve, the dominant tree of Ba Vi national park is light demanding tree It differs from some locations in Thuong Tien area, meaning that Ba Vi is affected by human activities such as building facility for tourism, logging… About forest composition formula, number of species on Bavi’ formula is similar to number species forming Thuong Tien forest after 10 year recovering

After survey process, 28 families are identified in 4 plots In table 4.2, we know plot

1 & plot 2 have 11 families Theaceae is dominant family in plot 1 with 50.5% while in plot 2 family which has highest percentage is Lauraceae Combining table 4.1 and 4.2,

all species in Theaceae is Adinandra sp