1Department of Environ. Engineering & Science, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, 1, Xuefu Road, Neipu Township, Pingtung County 912, Taiwan
2Engineering Consultant, Kelee environmental consultant corporation, 6F.-2, No.288-8, Sinya Road, Kaohsiung City 806, Taiwan. singsuey@ms28.hinet.net
Online published on 19 April, 2016.
The various methods currently available for reducing the emission of the greenhouse gas (CO2) may not be economically feasible to be implemented by industries or adopted by nations in environmental policies. Taiwan is surrounded by sea with abundant wetland suitable for mangrove growth on the surrounding seashore. If the wetland can be effectively renovated to grow mangrove, the adversely impact caused by CO2 and CH4 can be significant alleviated. This alternative is a worthwhile investment on reducing CO2 emission for Taiwan that is facing a yearly decreasing inland forestry.
In this research, aviation remote sensing images were processed using the ERDAS and ArcGIS software so that the classification of land coverage can be obtained using the Maximum Likelihood Method. Additionally, the NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) has also been applied to estimate the quantity of carbon sequestration capability for the Avicennia marina (Forsk.) mangrove growing in the Pingtung region.
The results show that the Pingtong region mangrove has NDVI values between 0.258 and 0.283, which are comparable to the NDVI values between 0.20 and 0.465 as published in literature. The observation indicates the reliability and validity of the aviation remote sensing with high resolution and with near red spectrum experimented in this research for estimating the the Avicennia marina (Forsk.) mangrove growing in this region. The estimated quantity of carbon sequestrated by the mangrove is about 1,461.77 ton.
The capacity of the Avicennia marina (Forsk.) mangrove growing in Pingtung region to sequestrate carbon has a great potential of development and implementation. The results obtained in this research can be used as a basis for policy makers, urban and regional planners, and researchers to deal with future development of cities and their surroundings in regions of highly ecological and environmental sensitivity.
Mangrove, avicennia marina, remote Sensing, carbon sequestration
