Abstract:
Forests are considered large reservoirs of carbon, as they remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphereand accumulate in their components. The main objective of this thesis is to quantify the forest carbon stock in the different ecosystems, forest use regimes and forest cover in the Province of Manica. For the field data collection, a stratified sampling was made taking into account the type of vegetation, level of cover and regime use. Were established 77 plots of 20 X 50 m in four forest use regimes, namely Coutada 7, 9 and 13, Community Forest, Forest Reserve and Forest Concession.To estimate the carbon stock in each ecosystem, data were collected on trees, herbaceous, litter, roots and soil. In order to obtain carbon values, the biomass of all the components under study was estimated except for the soil that obtained the carbon concentration by the Walkley-Black method and apparent density in the laboratory and subsequent to its stock. Estimates of carbon stock for vegetation were obtained following the rules established by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) according to which 50% of biomass corresponds to carbon. In all theregimes of use studied in the Miombo and Mopane, the soil was the component that presented the highest carbon stock average, corresponding to more than 60%, followed by tree vegetation. The same did not happen in the evergreen forest of mountain where 50% of the carbon stock was contribution of the arboreal vegetation. The other components were not very significant in terms of carbon. The average carbon stock in Miombo was estimated at 83.57 tons/ha for Coutada 9/13, 127.2 tons/ha for the community Forest and 89.77 tons/ha forthe Forest Concession; in the Mopane of 97.95 for Coutada 7 and in the FSVM of 555.67 tons/ha for the Forest Reserve. In all regimes, there was a trend of direct proportionality between the average carbon stock and the coverage levels, except for the Forest Reserve, and it can be concluded that there is a relationship between the forest carbon stock and the levels of forest cover. These results have the potential to be used in initiatives to Reduce Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+)
