Carbon Pool Assessment And Willingness To Pay For Offsetting Emission In Community Forest In Nepal

These environmental services are of local, national, or even global importance, In Nepal more than19thousands community forests are providing environmental service in less tangible economic benefit than actual efficiency. There is a risk of cost of management of those forest exceeds benefits and forests get converted to open access resources in future. There are few examples of carbon trading in domestic level to meet the country wide emission goal. In this contest the study aims to explore the public attitude towards carbon offsetting and their responsibility over service providers. The research helps to unveil the carbon pool scenario in community forest and willingness to pay for carbon offsetting of people who are consuming more energy than general people and emitting relatively more carbon in atmosphere. The study has assessed the carbon pool status in two community forests and valuated carbon service from community forest through willingness to pay in Dharan municipality situated in eastern Nepal.In the study two community forests carbon pools were assessed following the guideline "Forest Carbon Inventory Guideline2010" prescribed by Ministry of Forest and soil Conservation, Nepal. More than0.75percent sampling intensity has been applied and25and30sample plots were established in Hokse CF, Kavre district and Hariyali CF, Sunsari district respectively. Diameters and heights were measured for trees and saplings. Number of regeneration was counted and leaf, litter, herbs and grasses (LHG) were collected for oven dry weight. Soil samples were collected from three soil profile to examine SOC percent and soil density. Biomass was calculated using Chave et al.(2005) model. The valuation has been done on the basis of vehicle owners’willingness to pay for offsetting carbon in Dharan municipality. An open ended questionnaire was used for interview181vehicle owners who were encountered in market place and parking lots.Final out comes of paper in intensively managed area of Hokse CF recorded as103.58tons C/ha with6173.30tons carbon stock. Similarly in Hariyali CF carbon density was recorded as251.72mg C/ha. The total carbon stock of intensively managed blocks in Hariyali CF is35839.62tons carbon. The final outcome of Vehicle owners’willingness to pay for offsetting carbon is calculated as4.4USD per ton of carbon.