Carbon Stocks Potential in Regenerating Trees of the Tropical Coastal Forest Ecosystems

Estimation of carbon in the regenerating tropical coastal forest is needed to support conservation and
forest monitoring strategies. This chapter presents the determined carbon stocks in regenerating
species across forest sites subjected to deforestation because of crop-farming and livestock grazing.
The study used thirty-three independent measurements of tree carbon stocks from thirty-three tree
families found in the coastal zone of Tanzania. The vegetation was inventoried using a floristic survey
of the woody component across intact, crop agriculture and livestock disturbed land-use sites. The
biomass was then estimated by employing the existing allometric equations for tropical forests.
Thereafter, the above-ground stored carbon was quantified on the sampled tree species found in each
land uses. The tree varied (p ≤ .05) in carbon stock across species and land uses. The average
carbon (Kg/ha) stored in the regenerated adult trees was 1200 in IFS, 600 in ADS, 400 in LDS.
Saplings had 0.43 in LDS, 0.07 in ADS and 0.01 in IFS. Also, seedlings showed an average of 0.41 in
IFS, 0.22 in ADS and 0.05 in LDS. It shows that crop-agriculture highly affects the regeneration
potential of trees, biomass accumulation and carbon stock than livestock grazing. To restore the
carbon storage potential of coastal tropical forests, crop-agriculture must be discouraged, while
livestock grazing can be integrated into forest management. Indeed, further studies are required to
gauge the integration levels of any anthropogenic activities, so that the natural capacity of coastal
tropical forests to regenerate and stock carbon is not comprised further.