Drivers and their influences on variation of aboveground carbon removals in miombo woodlands of mainland Tanzania

Abstract Background Removals caused by both natural and anthropogenic drivers such as logging and fire causes substantial carbon emissions. Better insights into drivers and their variations of aboveground carbon removals is therefore needed. We assessed the drivers of aboveground carbon (AGC) removals and quantified the dynamics of removals-induced carbon emissions due to drivers using the National Forest Resources Assessment and Monitoring (NAFORMA) data sets in R software. Miombo woodlands which is the largest forest formations covering about 93% of forest land in mainland Tanzania was the case study. Results Drivers of AGC removals in miombo woodlands of mainland Tanzania in order of importance were; timber, fire, shifting cultivation, charcoal, natural death, firewood collection, poles, grazing by wildlife animals, carvings, grazing by domestic animals, and mining. The average AGC removals by drivers range from 0.0–1.273tCha− 1year− 1. Conclusions Increased mitigation efforts in addressing removals by timber, fires, shifting cultivation, charcoal and natural death would be effective in addressing forest degradation in the REDD + process in Tanzania. Since NAFORMA provides national picture on drivers and their variation on AGC removals, site-specific studies need to be conducted to bring information that would be used for local forest management. This kind of study need to be conducted in other vegetation types like Montane and Mangrove forest in Tanzania.