Carbon stocks in selected tree plantations, as compared with semi-deciduous forests in centre-west Côte d'Ivoire

Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) is receiving increasing political and scientific attention as a climate change mitigation approach. Agroforestry systems are credited for stocking significant amounts of carbon and hence have a potential to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Forestry-based carbon storage projects are currently being introduced in many tropical countries, but assessment of carbon storage is difficult due to a lack of species-level information.The research addressed in this paper assessed above, belowground and litter biomass of Theobroma cacao (cocoa) and Tectona grandis(teak) plantations relative to secondary forests in two sites in mid-western Côte d'Ivoire. Allometric equations for tropical trees relating to diameter at breast height (DBH) were used to estimate carbon storage potential. The main findings reveal that teak plantations have an appreciably much greater mean carbon storage capacity than secondary forests and cocoa plantations. The aboveground biomass of teak stands contained the highest carbon stock (214.7 Mg C ha-1) while litter and root displayed 2.8 and 35.6 Mg C ha-1, respectively. Cocoa plantations have the lowest carbon storage potential in the aboveground biomass,estimated at 18.6 Mg C ha-1, but a considerable amount of carbon stored in the litter (4.7 Mg C ha-1). With teak plantations' annual mean storage rate of 19.5 Mg C ha-1 year-1, corresponding to 70.6 Mg CO2 ha-1 year-1, the results demonstrate teak's potential of carbon sequestration and mitigation of the greenhouse gas emission effect.