Forest Modeling Lab., Institute for Agriculture and Forestry Systems in the Mediterranean, National Research Council of Italy (CNR-ISAFOM), 06128 Perugia, Italy.
Forest Modeling Lab., Institute for Agriculture and Forestry Systems in the Mediterranean, National Research Council of Italy (CNR-ISAFOM), 06128 Perugia, Italy.
J Environ Manage. 2024 Sep;367:121993. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.121993. Epub 2024 Jul 30.
Tropical deforestation in the African continent plays a key role in the global carbon cycle and bears significant implications in terms of climate change and sustainable development. Especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, where more than two-thirds of the population rely on forest and woodland resources for their livelihoods, deforestation and land use changes for crop production lead to a substantial loss of ecosystem-level carbon stock. Unfortunately, the impacts of deforestation and land use change can be more critical than in any other region, but these are poorly quantified. We analyse changes in the main carbon pools (above- and below-ground, soil and litter, respectively) after deforestation and land use/land cover change, for the Jomoro District (Ghana), by assessing the initial reference level of carbon stock for primary forest and the subsequent stock changes and dynamics as a consequence of conversion to the secondary forest and to five different tree plantations (rubber, coconut, cocoa, oil palm, and mixed plantations) on a total of 72 plots. Results indicate overall a statistically significant carbon loss across all the land uses/covers and for all the carbon pools compared to the primary forest with the total carbon stock loss ranging between 35% and 85% but with no statistically significant differences observed in the comparison between primary forest and mixed plantations and secondary forest. Results also suggest that above-ground carbon and soil organic carbon are the primary pools contributing to the total carbon stocks but with opposite trends of carbon loss and accumulation. Strategies for sustainable development, policies to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, carbon stock enhancement (REDD+), and planning for sustainable land use management should carefully consider the type of conversion and carbon stock dynamics behind land use change for a win-win strategy while preserving carbon stocks potential in tropical ecosystems.
非洲大陆的热带森林砍伐在全球碳循环中起着关键作用，对气候变化和可持续发展有着重大影响。特别是在撒哈拉以南非洲，超过三分之二的人口依赖森林和林地资源维持生计，森林砍伐和土地用途变化导致生态系统层面碳储量的大量损失。不幸的是，森林砍伐和土地用途变化的影响可能比其他任何地区都更为严重，但这些影响却没有得到充分的量化。我们通过评估原始森林的碳储量初始参考水平以及随后由于转换为次生林和五种不同人工林（橡胶、椰子、可可、油棕和混合种植园）而导致的碳储量变化和动态，分析了乔莫罗区（加纳）主要碳库（地上和地下、土壤和凋落物）在森林砍伐和土地利用/土地覆盖变化后的变化情况，共 72 个地块。结果表明，与原始森林相比，所有土地利用/覆盖类型和所有碳库的碳储量总体上都有统计学意义的显著损失，总碳储量损失在 35%至 85%之间，但在原始森林与混合种植园和次生林之间的比较中没有观察到统计学上的显著差异。结果还表明，地上碳和土壤有机碳是对总碳储量贡献最大的主要碳库，但碳损失和积累的趋势相反。可持续发展战略、减少森林砍伐和森林退化所致排放的政策、碳储量增加（REDD+）以及可持续土地利用管理规划，应在考虑土地利用变化背后的转换类型和碳储量动态的情况下，谨慎制定双赢战略，同时保护热带生态系统的碳储量潜力。
