Tropical forests play a fundamental role in mitigating climate change through storage of carbon in above- and below- ground biomass. Their mitigation potential is, however, affected by significant greenhouse gas emissions through tropical deforestation or forest degradation. Mitigating degradation caused by conventional logging is therefore an important challenge for silvicultural management, and various reduced impact logging techniques seek to reduce biomass loss and other logging impacts during forest logging activities. Little knowledge exists about the potential of sustainable management for maintaining and restoring the climate change mitigation capacity of tropical forests. Our research contributes to knowledge about this potential, as our aim is to evaluate the above-ground biomass (AGB) stock of tropical forests managed for sustainable timber production and compare it with that of intact primary forests. We also determine the environmental and spatial factors that influence AGB.

Authors: Morrison Vila, L.P.; Ménager, M.; Finegan, B.; Delgado, D.; Casanoves, F.; Aguilar Salas, L.A.; Castillo, M.; Hernández Sánchez, L.G.; Méndez, Y.; Sánchez Toruño, H.; Solano, G.; Zúñiga Mora, P.; Ngo Bieng, M.A.

Subjects: above-ground biomass, carbon sinks, rain forests, timber production, primary forests, forest conservation, climate change, spatial distribution

Publication type: ISI, Journal Article, Publication

Year: 2021

ISSN: 0378-1127

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2021.119462