Stand structure and carbon storage of a young mangrove plantation forest in coastal area of Bangladesh: The promise of a natural solution

Globally, with the growing importance of mangroves for providing ecosystem services and mitigating climate change, it is still uncertain whether planted mangroves can be the counterpart of natural mangroves, and thus the role of planted mangroves is still less understood. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the stand structure and carbon storage of a young mangrove plantation in Satkhira District, Bangladesh and to compare it with the natural mangrove forest (i.e., Sundarbans) to understand the potential of this young mangrove plantation as a nature-based solution to climate change. In addition, to better understand the spatial dynamics of afforested mangrove forests, we investigated and compared both above and below-ground carbon stocks between the landward and riverward sites. We collected both above…