Potential carbon storage of Indonesian mangroves

Abstract

Even though it only covers 0.1% of the surface of the continent, mangrove forests recorded as carbon-rich forests on earth. Forest loss and degradation together, especially in the tropics contributes about 12% of the total annual anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Mangrove forests ecosystem have high carbon storage potential. The study results show that the ratio of carbon to area in mangrove ecosystems is almost 13 times greater than that of tropical rainforest ecosystems in Indonesia. This study has used published data recorded in Google Scholar and Science Direct. Indonesia's mangroves, with a total area of 3.1 million ha, store a total carbon of 5.2 Gt. The average stand biomass or aboveground biomass is around 407.15 tons ha-1, storing carbon as much as 191.36 tons ha-1 which is equivalent to the potential for CO2 absorption (CO2e) by mangrove stands of 702.29 tons ha-1. Papua has the largest mangrove forest in Indonesia that has the potential for CO2e. Assessment of carbon storage in soil needs to be done in estimating the total carbon stored in mangrove ecosystems, given the large potential for stored carbon that plays a role in climate change mitigation.