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The USAID LEAD program supports developing countries in Asia to achieve low-carbon, sustainable economic development
USAID LEAD and USFS Continue Support of Sustainable Management of Mangrove Ecosystems with Carbon Assessment Training
Participants collect sediment samples to estimate carbon stocks in Cambodia's mangroves.
Koh Kong and Sihanoukville Provinces, Cambodia, February 8-25, 2015 – Staff from the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and USAID Low Emissions Asian Development (USAID LEAD) Program spent three weeks in Cambodia this February continuing training with 33 participants from Cambodia. A follow-up to in-field trainings held in April 2014, the training focused on data collection methods to measure the amount of carbon stored in Cambodia’s mangroves and other forested wetlands. In addition to building participant’s skills in data collection, the in field work holds particular significance as data collected will be used to develop an accurate estimate of carbon stocks in Cambodia’s mangroves for integration into the national GHG inventory.
The Cambodia field trainings are part of USAID and USFS efforts to support the sustainable management of mangrove ecosystems in Asia. Mangroves are highly productive ecosystems that provide a wide range of products and services to both the communities living near them and the economies of countries in the Asia region, such as clean air and water. With their ability to remove and permanently store large amount of carbon, they help to address climate change – storing up to five times more carbon than most other tropical forests around the world. Despite their value, these ecosystems remain threatened by conversion, and other drivers of deforestation and degradation. Overexploitation and conversion of these ecosystems is among the leading contributors of greenhouse gas emissions from Asia. Quantifying the significant carbon value of these ecosystems, a primary objective of this field work, provides additional justification for their protection and helps countries incorporate them into their climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies.
Training participants mastered in field protocols for data sampling and collection through classroom learning sessions lead by LEAD Program and USFS experts and through in-field data collection exercises. The training put LEAD’s Field Protocol for Measuring Carbon Stocks in Mangrove Forests into practice, teaching participants how to apply data collection methodologies. Over the three weeks, the team successfully collected over 810 sediment samples from plots in Koh Kong, Sihanoukville, and Srea Ambel. The samples will be processed and analyzed at the Royal University of Phnom Penh, Kasetsart University of Thailand, and the US Forest Serve laboratory in Hawaii. Data collected will be combined with samples from an upcoming training in Cambodia's flooded forests to create the first carbon stock data set for wetlands in Cambodia and will be integrated into the national GHG inventory.
Additional information
- Field Protocol for Measuring Carbon Stocks in Mangrove Forests, an annotated field guide, developed in partnership by USAID LEAD and USFS staff. Designed to help trainers, researchers, and government officials in Asia apply the "Protocols for the Measurement, Monitoring and Reporting of Structure, Biomass and Carbon Stocks in Mangrove Forests"
- For more photos of the Cambodia training, visit our Facebook and our Flickr pages
Training Presentations
- Aboveground Protocol to Assess Carbon Pools in Mangroves and Flooded Forests by Patra Foulk, USFS
- Belowground Protocol by Richard A. MacKenzie, USFS
- Biomass and Carbon Density Computation by Richard A. MacKenzie and Daniel Donato, USFS
- Distribution, Trends, and Regional Threats to Mangrove Ecosystems in Southeast Asia by Richard A. MacKenzie, USFS
- Tropical Forested Wetlands and the Global Carbon Cycle by Richard A. MacKenzie, USFS
- Sustainable Wetlands and Adaptation Mitigation Programs by Richard A. MacKenzie, Randy Kolka, Cynthia Mackie, Mathew Warren, J.Boone Kauffman, Joko Purbospito, Daniel Murdiyarso, Carl Trettin, and Erik Lilleskov from USFS, Oregon State University, and CIFOR
- Incorporating Mangroves into National GHG Inventories by Amornwan Resanond, USIAD LEAD Program
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Cooperating Partners
USAID LEAD partners with national and regional organizations in Asia, and draws on specialized expertise from the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service.
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