Primary goals

• To understand how existing carbon pools across degraded tropical upland regions vary with land-use history and abiotic characteristics. This research focuses on the interplay between anthropogenic interventions, such as land use and disturbance history, and site biophysical characteristics, examining their impacts on ecosystem carbon pools within the framework of forest succession, as influenced by socioeconomic factors and historical reforestation attempts.

Key outcomes

1. Plot surveys (~300) have been carried out across three islands in Eastern Visayas, Philippines, to measure ecosystem above- and belowground carbon pools, covering two main types of soil parent material (limestone and basalt/volcanic), a range of vegetation covers (e.g., grassland, shrubland, forest) and data on site histories, disturbances, fire history and reforestation history. These data are being analysed to assess relationships between land use history, disturbance intensity and biophysical characteristics with ecosystem carbon pools, forest structure and diversity, and to understand how social and economic drivers impact biophysical processes of carbon sequestration. 

Progress

This project commenced in May 2023 and is ongoing.

Lead researchers

• Adriana Vega Grau
• Alexandra Catling
• Liz Ota
• John Herbohn

Project partners

• Project Tarsier
• Shell

Sustainable Development Goals

This project works towards these UN Sustainable Development Goals:

• SDG 13: Climate Action
• SDG 15: Life on Land