Tree Biomass and Soil Carbon Stock in Community & Non Community Forest

Forests are natural carbon sink and play an important role in sequestration of the atmospheric carbon into biomass and soil. The study was carried out to estimate the carbon stock of Shankhadev Hasaura Community Forest (SHCF) of Shivamandir-8 and 7 and Manakamana Forest (MF) of ward number 4 and 5 of Kawasoti, Nawalparasi, Nepal. A total of 0.5% of the entire area was taken for the biomass calculation. The biomass carbon of SHCF was 277.33 ton/ha, Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) was 141.38 ton/ha and average carbon content of the CF was 419.103 ton/ha. The biomass of MF was 239.26 ton/ha, SOC was 222.36 ton/ha and average carbon content of the forest was 461.609 ton/ha. There is more number of trees with less DBH values (5-10 cm) in both the forests which shows these forests are young and have potential to store more carbon. Proper management of CF by the CFUG than the Non CF yields more tree biomass carbon in SHCF than MF. It seems more focused on the plantation to increase the number of trees but neglected the soil in terms of carbon value. This study concludes that SHCF has more carbon content in tree biomass and less in soil carbon than in MF.