Non-Destructive Estimation of Mangrove Carbon for Blue Carbon Accounting in Data-Limited Regions

This study presented a non-destructive method for estimating mangrove biomass and carbon stock by integrating species-specific allometric equations with hemispherical canopy photography. Field surveys were conducted across 15 plots at two coastal sites in East Java - Banyuurip Mangrove Center (BMC) and Lewean Mangrove Park (LMP). Measurements of Circumference at Breast Height (CBH), tree height, and canopy images were collected, covering twelve identified species, with Avicennia marina, Rhizophora stylosa, and R. mucronata being dominant. Canopy cover was extracted from hemispherical images using ImageJ, an open-source image analysis software. Aboveground biomass ranged from 34.04 to 154.99 Mg/ha and carbon stock from 24.64 to 69.89 Mg C/ha, with canopy cover consistently above 81%. This integrated, low-cost, and scalable approach offered a replicable solution for carbon assessment in data-limited mangrove regions.