Liberia National Forest Inventory 2018/2019
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Liberia National Forest Inventory 2018/2019 Table of Contents Message from Forestry Development Authority Managing Director vi Message from the National REDD+ Coordinator vii Message from the National Forest Inventory Coordinator viii Acknowledgements ix Acronyms and abbreviations x Executive Summary xi 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Scope of National Forest Inventory of Liberia 2 1.2 History of Forest Inventory in Liberia 3 1.3 National Forest Inventory of 2018 5 1.4 Limitation of estimates 6 2 Field Methodology 8 2.1 Sampling design 9 2.1.1 Inventory sampling intensity: a paneled approach 11 2.1.2 Cluster Plot Design 12 3 Data 15 3.1 Data collection 16 3.2 Data conversion and migration 20 3.3 Data cleaning 21 3.4 Data analysis 21 3.5 Quality Control and Quality Assurance 27 3.5.1 Quality Control (QC) 27 3.5.2 Quality Assurance (QA) 27 3.5.3 Quality Assurance (QA) Results 28 4 Results 31 4.1 Land Use 33 4.2 Forest cover 35 4.2.1 Forest cover estimates by different categories 35 4.3 Tree count 37 4.3.1 Tree count by Priority Landscapes & counties 38 4.3.2 Tree count by diameter classes 38 4.3.3 Tree count by tree genus by county 40 4.4 Basal area 42 4.4.1 Basal area by Priority Landscapes & counties 43 4.4.2 Basal area by diameter classes 44 4.4.3 Basal area by tree genus by county 45 4.5 Growing stock 47 4.5.1 Tree and bole volume by Priority Landscapes & counties 48 4.5.2 Tree and bole volume by county 48 i 4.5.3 Tree and bole volume by diameter classes 49 4.5.4 Tree and bole volume by tree genus and county 50 4.6 Biomass and Carbon Stocks 53 4.6.1 Biomass and carbon stock by Priority Landscapes & counties 53 4.6.2 Biomass and carbon stock by diameter classes 54 4.6.3 Biomass and carbon stock by tree genus and county 55 4.7 Dead Wood 58 4.7.1 Dead wood biomass and carbon by Priority Landscapes & counties 58 4.8 Biodiversity 59 4.8.1 Diversity metrics for Liberia 61 4.8.2 Diversity metrics by Priority Landscapes 62 4.8.3 Diversity metrics by counties 63 4.9 Non-timber forest products 64 4.9.1 Non-timber forest products for Liberia 64 4.9.2 Non-timber forest products by Priority Landscapes 65 4.10 Forest Regeneration 66 4.10.1 Regeneration by Priority Landscapes & counties 67 4.11 Other Forest Metrics 68 4.11.1 Forest Health 68 4.11.2 Forest Disturbance 68 4.11.3 Litter 72 4.11.4 Land ownership 73 5 Conclusion and recommendations 75 5.1 Recommendations: Technical Improvements 76 5.2 Recommendations: Commercial 77 5.3 Recommendations: Communities 77 5.4 Recommendations: Conservation 78 5.5 Recommendations: Carbon 79 References 80 Annex I. List of National Forest Inventory crew members 82 Annex II. Non-Timber Forest Products 85 Annex III. Final Tree Species List 89 Annex IV. Biodiversity Tables 96 Annex V. Field Forms – Biophysical Survey 107 Annex VI. Terms of reference for field team members 114 ii Liberia - National Forest Inventory 2018/2019 List of Tables Table 1. Nested subplot sampling units 14 Table 2. NFI field equipment list 18 Table 3. Overview of NFI campaigns 19 Table 4. Gross areas for the various reporting strataabl 21 Table 5. Wood decay factors for ead wood (FWD & CWD) 25 Table 6. Quality Assurance data t-test outputs (n = 82) 29 Table 7. Liberia NFI - Accessible Clusters 32 Table 8. Positional accuracy of plot locations per county 33 Table 9. Land use in Liberia 33 Table 10. Land use in Priority Landscapes 34 Table 11. Forest and non-forest cover of Liberia 35 Table 12. Forest cover Priority Landscapes 35 Table 13. Forest cover – Counties 36 Table 14. FRA classes Liberia 37 Table 15. Tree count (forest and non-forest) 37 Table 16. Tree count per hectare - Priority Landscapes 38 Table 17. Tree count per hectare – Counties 38 Table 18. Tree count per hectare - Priority Landscape and DBH Class 39 Table 19. Tree count per ha of forest by tree genus by county 40 Table 20. Basal area per hectare – Liberia 43 Table 21. Basal area per hectare - Priority Landscapes 43 Table 22. Basal area per forest hectare – Counties 43 Table 23. Basal area per hectare per DBH class - Priority Landscapes 44 Table 24. Basal area per ha per tree genus per county 45 Table 25. Tree and Bole Volume per ha - Liberia 48 Table 26. Tree and Bole Volume per ha - Priority Landscapes 48 Table 27. Tree and bole volume – Counties 48 Table 28. Tree and bole volume per ha by DBH Classes – Liberia and the Priority Landscapes 49 Table 29. Tree and bole volume per ha by tree genus and county 51 Table 30. Biomass and carbon per ha – Liberia 53 Table 31. Biomass and Carbon per hectare - Priority Landscape 53 Table 32. Biomass and carbon per ha - Counties 53 Table 33. Biomass and Carbon per ha by DBH class – Liberia and the Priority Landscapes 54 Table 34. Biomass and carbon per tree genus per county 56 Table 35. National dead wood biomass and carbon per ha for fine and coarse woody debris (CI pro- vided for both biomass and carbon estimates) 58 Table 36. Coarse and fine woody debris - Priority Landscapes (CI provided for both biomass and car- bon estimates) 58 Table 37. Coarse and fine woody debris – Counties (CI provided for both biomass and carbon esti- mates) 59 Table 38. Area estimates for NTFP categories - Liberia 65 Table 39. Area estimates for NTFP categories - Priority Landscapes 65 Table 40. National regeneration 66 Table 41. Priority Landscape regeneration 67 Table 42. County level regeneration 67 iii Table 43. Presence of pests in Liberian lands 68 Table 44. Presence of pests in Priority Landscapes forests 68 Table 45. Presence of fire in Liberian lands 68 Table 46. Presence of fire in Priority Landscape forests 69 Table 47. Fire type in Liberia 69 Table 48. Area by Fire type in Priority Landscapes 70 Table 49. Grazing incidence in Liberian forests 70 Table 50. Grazing incidence in priority and non-landscapes 70 Table 51. Timber extraction in Liberian lands 71 Table 52. Timber extraction in Priority Landscape lands 71 Table 53. Litter depth in Liberian forests 72 Table 54. Litter depth in Liberian forests 72 Table 55. Litter depth in Priority Landscape forests 72 Table 56. Land Ownership in Liberia 73 Table 57. Land Ownership in Priority Landscapes 73 Table 58. Sample completeness: Liberia 96 Table 59. Sample completeness: Priority Landscapes 96 Table 60. Sample completeness: Counties 98 Table 61. Diversity profile data: Liberia 101 Table 62. Diversity profile data: Priority Landscapes 102 Table 63. Diversity profile data: Counties 103 iv Liberia - National Forest Inventory 2018/2019 List of Figures Figure 1. NFI Cluster optimization 9 Figure 2. Hexagonal sampling framework used to guide the location of sampling clusters 11 Figure 3. Two-panel inventory approach 12 Figure 4. NFI Cluster plot design 13 Figure 5. Nested subplot design 14 Figure 6. Cluster route map drawn by field teams 16 Figure 7. General description of the plot 17 Figure 8. Presence of fauna around the plot 17 Figure 9. Plot pegging and dead wood assessment 17 Figure 10. Tree measurements 18 Figure 11. Plot enumeration closure 18 Figure 12. Data conversion and migration process 20 Figure 13. Bole to tree height ratio, modelled as a power function of height, where a,b <0. Observe that the equation above is an expanded version of that reported in the main text. 23 Figure 14. Quality assurance campaign - sampling frame 28 Figure 15. Liberia NFI - Cluster Accessibility 32 Figure 16. Sample completeness: Liberia 60 Figure 17. Sample completeness: Priority Landscapes 60 Figure 18. Sample completeness: Counties (a. Northwest Priority Landscape. b. Non-PriorityLandscape. c. Southeast Priority Landscape) 61 Figure 19. Diversity profile: Liberia 62 Figure 20. Diversity profile: Priority Landscapes 63 Figure 21. Diversity indices: Counties (a. Northwest Priority Landscape. b. Non-PriorityLandscape. c. Southeast Priority Landscape) 64 v Message from Forestry Development Authority Managing Director I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude to the Presi- for the true values of this massive forest resource is dent of Liberia, His Excellency, President, Dr. George addressed with forest accounting through the defined Mannah Weah, for his unconditional preferment to scientific approach called the National Forest Inven- appoint and support me as Managing Director of tory. It is my hope that this NFI report will provide the FDA shortly before the commencement of our answers and at the same time serve as a recipe to our National Forest Inventory (NFI). I am happy to have natural heritage for the essential purpose of our focus served the purpose leading to this forest information on the twin-targets (development and conservation). gathering for the forward march in sustainable forest management that will account for national develop- Thanks to the Government of Norway, the World ment and conservation possibilities for Liberia and Bank Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), the world. The 1967 national forest survey under the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization German Forestry Mission was concerned with valu- (FAO)-Liberia and Rome Offices, our REDD+ Nation- able commercial timber species which in effect is lim- al Coordinator (NPC) and the entire REDD+ Imple- ited for sustainable forest management and conser- mentation Unit (RIU) for the level of coordination and vation nowadays.