摘要
Although protected areas are central to global biodiversity conservation, most land lies within unprotected areas. In the developing world forest habitats have received increased attention for their potential as carbon sinks in a climate change perspective, and only few of these forests fall within protected areas. This study assesses how various management regimes, within and outside legal protection, influence forest carbon stocks in temperate broad-leaved forests in the Langtang area of Nepal. Woody biomass stocks, as well as soil organic carbon, were estimated using allometric relationships and converted into carbon estimates by standard equations. Regardless of the high similarity in species composition between the two forest management types, trees in the protected forest (PF) inside Langtang National Park were significantly taller and relatively larger than those in the government forest (GF) outside at Bhalche. Also, above-ground (AG) biomass, and hence AG carbon stocks, and soil organic carbon, were higher in the comparatively healthier PF; the total carbon stock was 284.5?ton/ha in the PF, compared to 167.0?ton/ha in the GF. Similarly, the total carbon pool was slightly greater at higher elevation under both management regimes. It was, however, much lower on the southern slope inside the protected forest because people extracted forest biomass, despite the legal protection, this area being close to settlements. Hence, the extent of biomass extraction determines the forest carbon storage capacity. Notably, it is not the legal protection per se, but rather its level of implementation on the ground that determines its success in protecting natural resources. This is in turn contingent on creating alternative livelihood options for communities relying directly on natural resource extraction.