Towards improved monitoring of growth performance of planted forest tree seedlings in Lebanon

Abstract

Until June 2012, Lebanons forests and other wooded land covered approximately 24% of the overall area in Lebanon. However, Lebanons forests have been facing drastic impacts from anthropogenic activities related to deforestation and forest fires. Throughout the years, several reforestation activities have been conducted across the country showing different success rates. However, in most of the cases, there is a lack of continuous monitoring of planted forests to account for mortalities in the plantation and their associated causes. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to investigate different field-based sampling techniques for monitoring growth performance of planted forest tree seedlings in Lebanon. The specific objectives were to 1) develop a field protocol for use in monitoring planted forest seedlings, 2) use soil gravimetric method and soil moisture probe for monitoring soil moisture, 3) combine all field data with weather data parameters for improved assessment of growth performance of planted seedlings and finally 4) calculate the annual increase in carbon stocks in living biomass due to growth of planted seedlings. The results obtained from calculating the annual increase in carbon stocks in living biomass are considered valuable for use in the future estimation of GreenHouse Gas (GHG) emissions and removals from the Land-Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) sector at the National level. The annual increase in carbon stocks due to biomass increment in land converted to forests calculated in Kaftoun was 1.01x10-4 tonnes C/yr, while in Mounjiz it was 2.97x10-4 tonnes C/yr.