Analyzing the effects of different management strategies on forest biomass carbon loss using linear programming

The effect of greenhouse gases on climate change is of great importance. In this context, forest ecosystems are seen as a critical mechanism in reducing carbon emissions by storing large quantities of carbon in vegetation and soil. The aim of this study was to compare and monitor biomass carbon sequestered in a range of forest structures subject to different forest planning scenarios. To this end, many scenarios have been tried over a planning horizon of 100 years for 1000-ha hypothetic forests. Two forest sites (both high- and low-productivity) and two rotation ages (70 and 100 years) were studied to analyze the effects of site condition and logging rotation length on carbon stock. Some constraints were also included, such as set aside forest area and volume control. Then, 35 mathematical models were developed using a linear programming technique and solved in LINGO software. Among the models developed, S7 model appeared to be the best in terms of minimizing the carbon loss from forest biomass. With this scenario, only 6447 tons of carbon were lost over 100 years with an even-flow harvesting policy and a mature rotation age (u = 100). The worst model was S4, where there were no constraints and the rotation age was young (u = 70). Almost 215 000 tons carbon loss resulted with the use of S4 model for a 100-year planning horizon. The results showed that the carbon dynamics of forest ecosystem was influenced to a great extent by forest management strategies. Therefore, the application of the optimal strategy involving the use of modern planning techniques is very important for mitigating the effects of global climate change