Assessing Forest Plantation Productivity of Exotic and Indigenous Species on Degraded Secondary Forests

Abstract: Problem statement: There is general agreement that human activities such as deforestation and land use change to other land use types have contributed to degraded secondary forests or forestland and increases the emission of greenhouse gases which ultimately led to global climate change. An establishment of forest plantation in particular is regarded as an important approach for sequestering carbon. However, limited information exists on productivity and potential of fast growth exotic and indigenous tree plantations for sequestering CO2 from the atmosphere through photosynthesis. This study aimed at assessing the productivity and biomass accumulation along with the potential for sequestering CO2 of planted exotic and indigenous species on degraded forestland. Approach: This study was conducted at Khaya ivorensis and Hopea odorata plantations, which was planted at the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) Research Station in Sega mat Johor, Malaysia five years ago. In order, to evaluate the forest productivity and biomass accumulation of both species, we established plots with a size of 40x30 m in three replications in each stand, followed by measuring all trees in the plots in terms of height and Diameter at Breast Height (DBH). To develop allometric equation, five representative trees a