Total Carbon Stock and Potential Carbon Sequestration Economic Value of Mukogodo Forest-Landscape Ecosystem in Drylands of Northern Kenya

Scientific Research Publishing

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Abstract: Carbon sequestration is one of the important ecosystem services provided by forested landscapes. Dry forests have high potential for carbon storage. However, their potential to store and sequester carbon is poorly understood in Kenya. Moreover, past attempts to estimate carbon stock have ignored drylands ecosystem heterogeneity. This study assessed the potential of Mukogodo dryland forest-landscape in offsetting carbon dioxide through carbon sequestration and storage. Four carbon pools (above and below ground biomass, soil, dead wood and litter) were analyzed. The main carbon pools on earth systems are atmosphere, terrestrial biosphere, ocean and Earth’s crust (Hoover & Riddle, 2020). Terrestrial ecosystems (mainly forest, soil and wetland), are the major carbon pool components on earth’s system (Beedlow et al., 2004; Lal et al., 2012; Xu et al., 2018) and largely contributes to the global carbon balance (IPCC, 2007; Hoover & Riddle, 2020). However, anthropogenic activities such as land-use change and combustion of biomass and fossil fuel are largely contributing to de-carbonization and accumulation of bio-spheric greenhouse gases (GHGs).