| dc.description.abstract | Climate change is associated with changes in the concentration of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere. This is accelerated by the degradation and loss of forests through anthropogenic activities, leading to carbon (C) emissions thus raising atmospheric C levels and temperature. Mangroves sequester 14% of C in the oceans despite occupying less than 0.5% of the coastal ocean.Withglobal deforestation contributing more than 20% of all carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, continued mangrove degradation is likely to significantly elevate the concentration of GHG in the atmosphere and aggravate global warming with its attendant consequences. In the present study, we report the storage of C and emissions from degraded mangroves in two heavily impacted peri–urban creeks namely Tudor creek and Mwache creek of Kenya. In Tudor creek the mangroves neighbors an ever–increasing informal settlement, subjecting mangroves to anthropogenic pressure mainly overexploitation for fuel–wood, building materials and as awaste disposal site. Mwache creek mangroves experienced a massive dieback following flooding and vast sedimentation from the Indian Ocean Dipole in 1997/98 and 2006. In the Island, species, which could not withstand long periods of submergence, were also greatly affected with some dying during the flooding period. Transects perpendicular to the shore, were identified prior to field work using Google earth images based on vegetation density and stand structure laid in preselected highly degraded and less degraded sections of the mangroves. Stratified random sampling based on vegetation density for three C pools (above ground, below ground and soils) was used to collect data. The total ecosystem carbon stock was estimated at 101.64±57.3C t.ha-1and 246.14±47.2 t.ha-1in Tudor and Mwache creeks respectively. There were significant differences in ecosystem C (p=0.0013) between highly degraded and less degraded sites within the creeks. There was 71.38 t.ha-1yr-1and 91.32 t.ha-1yr-1of carbon lost translating to 261.96 t.ha-1yr-1and 335.13 t.ha-1yr-1CO2equivalents emissions for Mwache and Tudor respectively. The rate of C loss calls for pertinent management strategies like formulating a management plan, awareness creation, energizing community efforts in reforestation among others to curb degradation hence reduced emissions. | en_US |
