Quantification of Above- and Below-Ground Carbon Stocks in Selected Community Forests of Nepal: A Case Study from Community Forest and Government Managed Forest of Sindhupalchok District, Nepal

The study entitled “Quantification of above and below ground carbon stocks in selected community forests of Nepal (A case from Community Forest and Government Managed Forest of Sindhupalchok, Nepal)” was aimed at to estimate the above ground and below ground carbon stock of Selang Manju Community Forest and LakpaDorje Government Managed Forest of Sindhupalchok district, Nepal. Out of the total 196.16 ha Community forest area 1.5 ha i.e. 0.76% area was selected for the forest inventory. All together there are 30 plots in the community forest and other 30 plots in the government-managed forest.Primary and Secondary data were collected and analyzed by using the t test. Tree carbon stock in Government managed forest was found to be higher with 77.86 ton/ha than CF with 74.39 ton/ha. Tree carbon stock of Government managed forest is very high because in the National Forest there were lots of old trees which have carbon storage but they do not have sequestrating capacity anymore. Sapling carbon stock was found to be lower in government managed forest with 0.92 ton/ha than in community forest with 0.97 ton/ha. LHG carbon was found to be higher 1.31 ton/ha in government-managed forest than CF with CF with 1.16 ton/ha. Dead wood carbon stock in Government managed forest was found to be higher with 12.01 ton/ha than CF with 11.48 ton/ha. The below ground carbon consists of Root Carbon. The root carbon of government managed forest was found to be higher with 16.58 ton/ha than community forest with 15.84 ton/ha. The soil organic carbon was found to be 170.54 ton/ha in community forest and 172.18 ton/ha in government managed forest. Total carbon stock of Government managed forest was found to be higher with 280.86 ton/ha than community forest with 274.28 ton/ha. The total carbon stock of the community forest is 274.28 ton/ha similarly the total carbon stock of the government managed forest 280.86 ton/ha. The total carbon in the community forest is 53802.76 ton similarly the total carbon in the government managed forest is 57576.30 ton. The total carbon in the community forest is less than the government managed forest. There is significance difference between mean above ground (Shoot, LHG, and dead wood) carbon stock of CF and GMF however there is significance difference between mean sapling carbon stock of CF GMF. There is significance difference between mean below ground (Root and Soil) carbon stock of CF and GMF at 5% level of significance.