Abstract
The impacts of climate change are becoming more severe. For the past decades, the Philippines have witnessed strong typhoons, prolonged rains and intense drought that caused significant damages to agriculture, infrastructures, human settlements and health. As proposed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), mitigation strategies such as reforestation and protection of the remaining forest cover can help lessen the impacts of climate change. Forested watersheds such as the Angat Watershed Reservation Dam in Luzon have huge capacity to store and sequester atmospheric carbon. Among the greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide is the most important contributor to global warming. Using the biomass sampling technique developed by ICRAF-ASB and Winrock Foundation, the study estimated the carbon stocks of Angat watershed. On the average, old growth forest has the largest carbon density with 404 ton ha-1. This was followed by the second growth forest (387.5 ton ha-1 C), tree plantations of Swietenia macrophylla (357 ton ha-1 C) and Gmelina arborea (240.7 ton ha-1 C), submarginal forest (151.9 ton ha-1 C), and lastly grassland (65.7 ton ha-1 C). Total carbon stock of the watershed was estimated to around 22 gigaton C, an amount that is significant to help compensate the country’s carbon emission level. Overall, the study emphasized the need to protect Angat watershed in order to sustain its twin role of climate change mitigation and sustainable water and energy generation.
Source or Periodical Title
Transactions of the National Academy of Science and Technology
Page
58
Document Type
Article
Frequency
Annualy
Language
English
Subject
Watershed management Watersheds; Dams; Angat Watershed Reservation Dam; Climate change
Recommended Citation
Gevana, Dixon T.; Pulhin, Florencia B.; and Cruz,, Rex Victor O., "Climate change mitigation through conservation of Angat Watershed reservation in Luzon, Philippines" (2021). Journal Article. 7.
https://www.ukdr.uplb.edu.ph/journal-articles/7