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Forest Carbon Storage and Species Richness in FSC Certified and Non-certified Community Forests in Nepal

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Abstract

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) forest certification was introduced in Nepal with an assumption that it improves forests and ecosystem services while addressing the drivers of forest degradation. As of today, 89 community forests (CF) have been FSC certified, however empirical evidence on the contribution of forest certification on carbon stock and species richness is lacking. This research, thus tries to answer the question “do certified community forests (CCF) maintain higher carbon stock and species richness compared to non-certified community forests (NCF)?” The study collected field level data during February–May 2013 from 88 experimental plots. The study found higher carbon stock (p<0.05) and species richness, and lower ecological threat index (p<0.10) in the CCF, compared to NCF. The study showed that forest carbon stock is positively related to species richness, and negatively to ecological threat index. It suggests that sustainable forest management practices, that is generally adopted in the CCF, would minimize ecological threats, enriches species leading to enhanced carbon stock.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are highly indebted to Dr Bhishma P. Subedi, Executive Director and Mr. Puspa Lal Ghimire, Program Director at ANSAB-Nepal for their support during the study. We also acknowledge Mr. Rijan Tamrakar and Mr. Mashavhi Emmerson Chivhenge for proofreading the manuscript. We are thankful to the enumerators and community forest user group members for their active involvement in the data collection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Asia Network for Sustainable Agriculture and Bioresources (ANSAB), P.O.Box 11035, Kathmandu, Nepal

    Shambhu Charmakar & Nabin Raj Joshi

  2. Ministry of Forests and Environment, Government of Nepal, Singhadurbar, Kathmandu, Nepal

    Bishwa Nath Oli

  3. University of Southern Queensland, Institute for Life Sciences and the Environment, West Street, Toowoomba, QLD, 4350, Australia

    Tek Narayan Maraseni

  4. School of Forestry and Natural Resource Management, Institute of Forestry, Tribhuvan University (TU), Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal

    Kishor Atreya

  5. Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 730000, Lanzhou, China

    Tek Narayan Maraseni

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  1. Shambhu Charmakar
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Charmakar, S., Oli, B.N., Joshi, N.R. et al. Forest Carbon Storage and Species Richness in FSC Certified and Non-certified Community Forests in Nepal. Small-scale Forestry 20, 199–219 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11842-020-09464-3

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