Carbon Storage Potential of Ethiopian Highland Bamboo (Arundinaria alpina (K. schum)- A Case Study of Adiyo Woreda, South West Ethiopia

Estimation of above ground biomass are required for better planning, sustainable management and monitoring of change in carbon stock in natural stands of bamboo ecosystem. Biomass assessment, the selection or development of reliable allometric biomass equations is an essential step which determines largely the accuracy of the resulted biomass estimates. Unfortunately, only few studies on biomass estimation and allometric biomass equations have been conducted for Ethiopia Highland bamboo and the results are usually not publicly accessible or well documented. Thus, the objective of this study was to estimate carbon storage capacity of natural bamboo stand and develop species-specific allometric equations for above-ground biomass (AGB) estimations for Ethiopia Highland bamboo (Arundinaria alpine). The study site was divided into three landforms based on slope percent from the bottom to the top of the mountain. Accordingly, the three landforms were categorized as flat-gentle slopping (0-20) Slope (20-40) and steep slope (40-60). In each of three land- forms four plots of size of 10 x10m each were laid at every 200m distance between each plot. A total of twelve study plots were taken from the three land forms. Age and DBH of the plants of each plot was taken and plants were grouped into three age class as 3 years of age.