TITLE:
Aboveground Carbon Stock in Natural and Planted Forests, Congo
AUTHORS:
Romeo Ekoungoulou, Jafrel Loïck Bikouta, Saint Fedriche Ndzaï, Fousseni Folega, Bienfaite Jariya Bamissamou, Chrisveil de Ben-Mack Mbouilou, Samarrange Maracine Makakambi Dimina, Felix Koubouana
KEYWORDS:
Aboveground Biomass, Carbon, Forest, Kintélé, Mbamou Island
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Ecology,
Vol.15 No.12,
December
17,
2025
ABSTRACT: Quantify global carbon stock in tropical forests to climate change mitigation requires availability of data and tools such as allometric models. The study aimed to estimate aboveground biomass (AGB) and carbon stock in natural and artificial lowland forests. The study retained two study sites. The first site is located in the planted forest in urban commune of Kintélé, on the northern outskirts of Brazzaville, in the Pool Department, Republic of Congo. The second site is located at the Lisanga natural forest in Mbamou Island, which is in the sub-prefecture of Brazzaville Department, Republic of Congo. A total of six plots were recorded, with 50 m × 50 m, i.e. 2500 m2 each for this study. DBH ≥ 10 cm at 1.30 m above ground level for each tree was measured. The results show that for planted forest, Plot 2 has a high biomass (582.8 t∙ha−1) and carbon stock (273.9 t∙ha−1) compared to plots 1 and 3, which have 242.3 t∙ha−1 of biomass and 113.9 t∙ha−1 of carbon, and 206 t ha-1 of biomass and 96.8 t∙ha−1 of carbon. About natural forest, there was an increase in the amount of biomass in the lower height classes (with 47.4 t∙ha−1 of biomass and 22.2 t∙ha−1 of carbon stocks for the 10 m to 19.9 m class) towards the middle class, reaching its peak in class II, from 20 to 29.9 m with 582.8 t∙ha−1 of AGB and 273.9 t∙ha−1 of carbon. The variations in biomass by diameter class and height class in the two forest types studied are remarkable. The planted forest has a higher biomass and carbon stock than the natural forest.