Tree carbon estimation in the forest management area of Ixtlán de Juárez, Oaxaca, Mexico

Abstract

Forests are crucial for the abatement of the global climate change, and an adequate management can create a balance between logging and carbon sequestration. This study, which was carried out using a general methodology based on information collected by the forest management program in Ixtlán de Juárez, Oaxaca, on the existing and extracted volumes of pine and oak and the current annual increase, made it possible to estimate the potential carbon uptake, storage and dynamics in the forest management area (FMA). As for the latter, the potential uptake was 58 577.24 MgCO e year-1, with an average of 1.36 MgC ha-1año-1 (± 0.31). ^{Carbon2storage} in the commercial reserve and conservation area was 2 942 558.22 MgCO2e. However, 63.0 % of the baseline carbon stock was removed in 1 211.00 ha; eight years later, 11.7 % of the extracted carbon had already been recovered. The results showed that, simultaneously with logging, the FMA sequesters an important amount of carbon. This generates a forest carbon baseline stock with which an uptake project may be implemented allowing the community to obtain additional income to improve its forest management, as well as generate information in order to fine-tune carbon estimation. The methodology utilized was practical, and the resulting values are in agreement with those cited for other Mexican forests. It is possible to apply the proposed approach in other communities with forest management programs for timber exploitation.