Spatial Mapping of Carbon Stock in Riverine Mangroves Along Amanzule River in the Ellembelle District of Ghana

Abstract

Compared to other wetland ecosystems mangroves are well known for their numerous ecosystem services, especially carbon pool. In Ghana, there is limited information on the sequestered carbon in mangroves. There is increasing interest on national climate change mitigation and adaptation plans in mangroves in developing nations, and Ellembelle in the Western Region of Ghana is of no exception. Ellembelle is one of the areas with little information on the size and variation of mangrove carbon stock which needs to be addressed. This research is aimed at determining the carbon stock from the carbon sequestered in mangrove and the areal extent in mangrove forest using remote sensing and allometric equation. The ecosystem carbon density estimate for the mangrove forest was weighted based on their spatial distribution across the landscape to yield a total carbon stock of for the Ellembelle mangrove forest. The error obtained from the 95% Confidence Interval was + 1.53%, which is within the acceptable levels of uncertainty based on the Monte Carlo Analysis. The overall carbon estimated for 2015 based on the area for mangrove (374.49 ha) was 1.550Mt with an uncertainty of + 57.125Kt indicating a high amount of carbon sequestered in mangroves.