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Simulating options for carbon sequestration through improved management of a lowland tropical rainforest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 March 2001

MARCO BOSCOLO ,
JOSEPH BUONGIORNO  and
THEODORE PANAYOTOU
MARCO BOSCOLO
Affiliation:
Center for Tropical Forest Science, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID), Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. E-mail: mboscolo@hiid.harvard.edu
JOSEPH BUONGIORNO
Affiliation:
Department of Forestry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1630 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA
THEODORE PANAYOTOU
Affiliation:
Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID), Harvard University, One Eliot Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
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Abstract

The growing evidence that increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are related to global warming has prompted several countries to consider options for reducing and offsetting current carbon dioxide emissions. Opportunities for carbon sequestration with forestry activities have been analysed in detail primarily in industrialized nations, mainly because of data availability. This article presents a model that simulates a tropical forest stand in its role as a source of income and as a carbon store, and quantifies the potential for and cost-effectiveness of carbon sequestration through modifications of management practices. Results suggest that financing modifications of forestry practices may achieve net carbon sequestration in a relatively cost-effective way. Tropical countries with extensive forest resources may be in a position to offer cost-effective net carbon sequestration options.

Type
THEORY AND APPLICATIONS
Information
Environment and Development Economics , Volume 2 , Issue 3 , July 1997 , pp. 241 - 263
Copyright
© 1997 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

We are grateful to S. Appanah, Peter Ashton, Awang Noor Abd. Ghani, Rick Condit, Elizabeth Losos, Robert Stavins, Jeffrey Vincent and two anonymous reviewers for valuable suggestions and comments on earlier drafts. We thank the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM) and N. Manokaran, J. LaFrankie, K.M. Kochummen, E.S.Quah, J.E. Klahn, P.S. Ashton and S.P. Hubbell in particular for the biological data. The 50 ha forest plot at the Pasoh Forest Reserve is an ongoing project of the Malaysian Government initiated by the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia and under the leadership of N. Manokaran, Peter S. Ashton and Stephen P. Hubbell. This work was prepared with partial support from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute's Center for Tropical Forest Science through a grant from the Southern Company; from the Environmental Protection Agency through the cooperative agreement with HIID on 'Economic Analysis of International Forestry Issues'; and from the Harvard Institute for International Development.