Developing low-cost methods for tropical forest and peatland carbon monitoring PhD

Project Highlights:

•Use of novel space technology for new insight on carbon sequestration in forested tropical peatlands

•Optional fieldwork for validating models in stunning Central American forested peatland ecosystems with an international collaborative network

•Evidence-based and transparent approach to validating carbon credits schemes

Overview

Tropical forests are recognised as globally important carbon stores, sequestering significant quantities of atmospheric carbon dioxide aboveground in the vegetation. Less well understood are tropical peatlands, which not only sequester substantial carbon in plant biomass, but also can store carbon to significant depth in the soil and are amongst the most carbon dense ecosystems on Earth. Tropical peatland ecosystems can continue to sequester carbon while they remain flooded, but many are frequently drained for agricultural production. Both tropical forests and peatlands are under substantial threats from land use and climate change – maintaining and enhancing these carbon stores is crucial for climate change mitigation.

Conventional approaches for mapping these areas and quantifying carbon storage are labour intensive and expensive, requiring ongoing measurements in the field. A range of new remote sensing technologies, when combined with a comprehensive understanding of tropical forest and tropical peatland ecosystem dynamics, have the potential to develop new insights on carbon sequestration in forested tropical peatlands. In the long-term this will also help the development of an evidence-based approach to monitoring carbon credit schemes, which focus on removing atmospheric carbon dioxide through planting trees and/or conserving and regenerating existing areas of forest and peatland. 

The project proposes to develop novel methodologies for cost-effective monitoring of carbon storage and sequestration in tropical forests and peatlands. This will be achieved through a combination of synthesising existing datasets, developing new models, and through optional fieldwork primarily focussing on poorly mapped tropical peatlands in Central America (Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua), undertaken in partnership with an experienced international and diverse network of tropical forest researchers from the University of Nottingham, British Geological Survey, Uppsala University and others.

Methodology

The project will review how current carbon credit schemes quantify carbon storage and the monitoring requirements that are in place to measure success. This will involve investigation of sources of error in the datasets and methodology used to validate how conservation and regeneration programmes affect the amount of sequestered carbon alongside how baseline carbon stocks are determined. New approaches, using remote sensing technology combined with field measurements, will developed for measuring above and belowground carbon storage. This will be achieved through identification of a set of target variables for modelling forest peatland carbon that can be measured from space. The approaches developed will be critically evaluated for their accuracy and efficiency compared to existing technology and how they can be scaled into operational tools for validating carbon credit schemes. This may be supported by optional fieldwork to generate new measurements in poorly mapped peatland regions (in particular across Central America).

Partners and collaboration

This project has been co-developed with the help of industry leading carbon credit agencies to reflect the growing need for accountability in the trading of carbon credits and the long-term yield of investments in regeneration and conservation programmes. The student benefit from supervisor links with industry and the wider scientific community involved in the mapping of global carbon sequestered in tropical forested peatlands.

Possible timeline:

Year 1: review of current carbon credit schemes, monitoring requirements, sources of error and estimation of baseline carbon sequestration. 

Year 2: field data collection and development of novel technologies for monitoring tropical peatland forest.

Year 3: critical evaluation of new approaches for validating carbon credits.

The standard model at Cranfield University is the production of peer-reviewed papers during the course of the studentship.  Placements will be for periods of between 1 week to 3.