Assessment of ecosystem services of oak forests, Tangir valley, district Diamer, Pakistan

Abstract

Socio-cultural assessment is an extensively used
method to quantify ecosystem services (ES). Present study
investigated socio-economic importance of ES and
measured carbon sequestration potential as regulatory ES
in seven villages (Sheikhou, Jaglote, Glai, Adrkali,
Shumari, Shabinal and Sobokot) of Tangir valley, district
Diamer, Gilgit Baltistan. Questionnaires and interview
based social survey was conducted to explore provisioning,
regulatory, supporting and cultural ES. Further, forest
attributes data was collected from 29 inventory plots in
pure stand of Quercus ilex. Results showed that the
provisioning services are comprised of fuel wood, fodder,
grazing, food, leaf litter, fresh water and timber. In group discussion, community members gave top rank to the fodder
(for their livestock) followed by fuel wood and litter collection.
The highest correlation was shown between timber and
monthly income (R2
= 0.42) whereas lowest was (R2 = 0.09) for
NTFPs and fuel wood. Whereas negative correlation was
perceived for agriculture, leaf litter, grazing, fodder and range
land with R2 (0.31, 0.18, 0.17, 0.15 and 0.11), respectively.
Local communities were less aware about regulatory and
supporting services as these ES are taken as far-granted. Forest
inventory showed that mean above ground biomass and carbon
stocks were 72.46 and 34.06 t/ha, respectively. Similarly, total
biomass and carbon stocks were 90.22 and 42.40 t/ha,
respectively. Regarding cultural services, the area has great
potential for eco-tourism due to outstanding landscape, scenic
beauty and biodiversity. Present study suggests further indepth evaluation of ecosystem services provided by Quercus
forests on the regional scales. © 2020 Department of
Agricultural Sciences, AIOU