A Bioenergetic Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) Approach in the Secondary Montane Humid Forest-Oxapampa, Peru

Forests are capable of sequestering carbon through tree biomass and it is important to predict their storage potential given the increase in CO₂from deforestation and illegal mining. The objective of this research was to evaluate the storage of carbon and calorific value based on the aerial biomass of the forest diversity located between 2358 to 2450 masl of the Montane Humid Forest (Bh mo) in the buffer zone of San Alberto-Quilla in the Biosphere Reserve. The forest was located on the eastern Andean flank of Oxapampa in Cerro de Pasco (Peru). Four forest plots with an area of 900 m²each were evaluated, using the destructive method for trees with a diameter at breast height (DBH) equal to or greater than 10 cm. Species richness, density, diameter at breast height, and aerial biomass (AGB) were determined. Twenty-six species were identified, the dominant being Miconia sp. (12%), Cyathea sp. (9%), Weinmannia sp. (9%), Ocotea sp. (7%). The dry aerial biomass varied between 1.15 and 40.07 (t/ha), the highest values corresponded to Miconia, Clusia, Hasseltia and Ocotea sp., and the evaluated plots followed the descending order: AGBcresta-II (86.93 t/ha) > AGBRibera (47.74 t/ha) > AGBCresta-I (42.27 t/ha) > AGBLadera (34.13 t/ha); and a significant calorific value (CPtotal= 26190 Gj/ha). The regression analysis and allometric model, was based on the diameter at breast height (DBH) of the tree species, and it proved to be the appropriate variable to predict the carbon mass and its energetic value. The results can be used as a reference to optimize the management of carbon storage and energy value in the montane humid forest in the BECCS context.