There, about 20% of the plant species are endemic, in part because the Pacific Ocean and the western Andean mountain range encircling the region have historically acted as a bridge between Central America and Amazonia. Famous botanist Alwyn Gentry conducted research in that region during the 1980s, revealing that the Pacific coast region of Colombia has an outstanding biodiversity and is a major biodiversity hotpot. The lowland Pacific coast region of Colombia, Chocó, has been understudied due to its remote location and history. In this paper, we focus on one of these regions: the Chocó region. These programs require regions or countries to report on the state of their forest to be able to qualify for carbon credits. Improving carbon stocks estimations in the tropics, in particular in poorly known regions, would help understanding the global carbon budget better and would enable these regions to participate in projects such as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+). Yet tropical forests remain understudied and their carbon stocks are poorly estimated, notably due to the lack of available data, compared to temperate regions. They contribute significantly to global terrestrial carbon stocks, host more than half of Earth’s species, and millions of people depend on forests for food, timber, and other economic and ecosystem services. Tropical forests have a prime role in carbon balance, biodiversity and society. Our assessment of carbon stocks and forest degradation can be used as a reference for reporting on the state of the Chocó forests to REDD+ projects and to encourage restoration efforts through conservation and climate mitigation policies. Our findings suggest that the forest degradation has already caused the loss of more than 115 million tons of dry biomass, or 58 million tons of carbon. Forest degradation varies in biomass loss from small-scale selective logging and firewood harvesting to large-scale tree removals for gold mining, settlements, and illegal logging. Within the terra firme forest class, intact forests have the highest AGB (244.3 ± 34.8 Mg/ha) followed by degraded and secondary forests with 212.57 ± 62.40 Mg/ha of biomass. Mangroves have a lower mean height than upland forests (16.5 m), but have a similar AGB as upland forests (229.9 Mg/ha) due to their high wood density. Upland Chocó forests have a mean canopy height of 21.8 m and AGB of 233.0 Mg/ha, while wetland forests are characterized by a lower height and AGB (13.5 m and 117.5 Mg/a). We used the Random Forest machine learning model and a formal uncertainty analysis to map forest height and AGB at 1-ha spatial resolution for the entire pacific coastal region using spaceborne data, extending from the coast to higher elevation of Andean forests. We developed a model to convert measurements of vertical structure of forests into aboveground biomass (AGB) for terra firme, wetlands, and mangrove forests. More than 80,000 ha of lidar samples were collected based on a stratified random sampling to provide a regionally unbiased quantification of forest structure of Chocó across gradients of vegetation structure, disturbance and elevation. We provide the first regional assessment of forest structure and aboveground biomass using measurements from a combination of ground tree inventories and airborne Light Detection and Ranging (Lidar). With increasing pressure of degradation and deforestation, these forests have been prioritized for conservation and carbon offset through Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) mechanisms. Wet tropical forests of Chocó, along the Pacific Coast of Colombia, are known for their high plant diversity and endemic species.
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