Sawiris Fellowship

Monitoring of Forest Carbon Stocks in the Miombo Woodlands of Western Tanzania

Context

In Tanzania, the rural communities have been engaged for years in a number of forestry conservation activities, which qualify them to be part of the global efforts on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD). This scheme is currently under negotiation through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), since it recognises the vital role of the forests in removing CO₂ from the atmosphere. It is anticipated that the REDD scheme will enable rural communities to earn money while providing them in the long run with additional forest conservation benefits such as continued water supply, food and medicine. Moreover, the involvement of rural communities can help reducing costs and strengthening the ownership during the process.
For further information on UN-REDD please see their external page web pages.

Objectives/Aim

We will study the Miombo woodlands in terms of forest carbon stocks. After intensive literature review and rigorous laboratory testing, the first task will be to recommend a range of participatory methods and tools for estimating the landscape-level forest carbon stocks. To do so, we will use remote sensing and GIS combined with minimum field measurements. It shall be proven that remote sensed data is able to quantify changes in the forest cover. Yet, detecting forest cover changes will not be sufficient for verifying changes in the carbon stocks for the purposes of REDD according to the UNFCCC guidelines. Therefore, additional information on the cause of forest cover change is required. The natural disturbance versus the direct human-induced change is to be quantified. The reason for the change has to become clear, for example, harvest as part of forest management or deforestation for the purpose of land-use change. In order to determine and document these relationships, a comprehensive questionnaire and database system will be developed.

Outreach

The local community will be trained to measure forest carbon stocks using remotely sensed data. They will be taught to carry out a number of activities such as (i) marking the forest boundaries, (ii) measuring and recording the key tree variables, (iii) interpreting the satellite images, (iv) locating the permanent sample plots using GPS, and (v) retrieving them for future assessments. The aim is to develop a remote sensing and GIS field guide, which will help other local communities in the Miombo woodlands to enter the REDD process. The guide will be written both in Swahili and in English. It will give a step-by-step explanation on how carbon measurements can be undertaken at field level. Technical support in advanced GIS calculations and operations will be provided to participating community members.