'Surface area' based above ground woody forest biomass carbon estimation: A case study of Kolasib District, Mizoram, India

The present study aims at estimating above ground woody forest biomass carbon stock of Kolasib district, Mizoram based on both 'planimetric' as well as 'surface area'. Surface area is the actual available area for plants and animals of a region for their establishment and development. Geo-referenced orthorectified satellite image (Landsat ETM+) of the year 2001 was classified following hybrid method. The planimetric classified map was then integrated with slope map to get the surface area of each land use/cover. The planimetric area of Kolasib district is 1,382 km super(2), whereas surface area was estimated as 1,490 km super(2). The total above ground woody biomass carbon estimated as per planimetric and surface area were 2,404 and 2,587 thousand tonne, respectively with a net difference of 183 thousand tonne. This study, therefore, accentuates the surface area based estimation of biomass carbon in regional and global scale to understand the forestry options to mitigate climate change.