Vegetation and carbon storage in mature natural forest stand areas (case study at one of the industrial forest plantation companies in Bener Meriah District, Aceh Province)

Abstract Forests as carbon sinks are important for maintaining the intensity of carbon in the environment. There are two approaches to mitigate atmospheric carbon dioxide: emission reduction and emission sequestration. The stands in the forest provide a place for carbon storage or deposition (carbon sink). One of the forests that can be used as a carbon sink area is Natural Forest. Research on natural forests in Bener Meriah Regency has never been conducted. In fact, carbon storage information can be used in order to provide one indicator to assess forest quality. The carbon stock referred to in this study consists of stands (seedlings, saplings, poles, and trees). The purpose of this study was to determine the amount of carbon stocks and carbon dioxide absorption in Natural Forest Stands in Bener Meriah Regency. The research was conducted in one of the Natural Forest blocks in an industrial plantation forest company in Bener Meriah Regency with an area of 1,029.4 ha. The sampling intensity used was 1.2% with 30 plots. The non destructive sampling method was used with carbon stock estimation using the allometric equation. Plot placement was determined using the systematic sampling with random start method and plot placement used uniform systematic sampling with distance between plots, the distance between plots is 100 m. The results of the study found 31 species, 19 families and 466 stands, the results of the analysis showed that the total carbon stock was 144.782,42 tC with an average of 129.56 tC/ha. The total carbon dioxide uptake in natural forest stands in Bener Meriah Regency was 109,702.91 tCO 2 with an average of 475.49 tCO 2 /ha.