Economic Valuation of Timber and Carbon Stock in the Ban Phru Toei Community Forest, Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, Thailand

บทคัดย่อ

Community forests provide critical ecosystem services but are frequently undervalued in forest management decisions. This study assessed the economic value of timber resources and quantified the carbon stock of the Ban Phru Toei Community Forest (262 rai; 41.92 ha) in Bang Khan District, Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, Thailand. Twenty-six 20 × 50 m sample plots were systematically established. Tree species richness, density, and stem circumference were recorded; timber volume and above-ground biomass were estimated using published allometric equations. Economic values were derived using the market-price approach, based on 2020 customs import data. A total of 3,812 stems representing 101 species were recorded (1,992 large trees; 1,820 young trees), with a combined density of 146.62 stems per rai. The most abundant species was Madhuca motleyana (1,047 stems), followed by Syzygium aqueum (346 stems) and Stemonurus malaccensis (299 stems). Total timber volume was 2,228.60 m³ (85.72 m³ rai⁻¹). The net timber value of large trees was 25.19 million THB, and the total forest value reached approximately 255.73 million THB. Above-ground biomass in the 26 plots was 24.27 t, yielding a carbon stock of 11.41 t; extrapolated to the entire forest, total carbon was estimated at 114.94 t (0.44 t rai⁻¹), representing above-ground large-tree biomass only and excluding below-ground biomass, litter, dead wood, and soil organic carbon (the dominant carbon pool in peat-swamp forests, estimated at 1,453–3,650 t C ha⁻¹ in comparable Southeast Asian sites). These findings provide baseline data for community-based forest management, conservation planning, and participation in Thailand’s Bio-Circular-Green Economy framework, specifically by enabling future T-VER carbon credit registration and informing spatial zoning decisions for the community forest.