| dc.description.abstract | The Kampala urban population is rapidly growing, with an estimated 10 million people projected to be living in Kampala by 2030, putting a strain on land resources such as the urban forest patches that are being lost. Based on known values such as carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, flood control, and other tangible and intangible benefits to the city, the sustainability of the urban forest patches is critical. The forest patches in Kampala capital city are made up of individual and groupings of trees that grow within the city limits. It should be noted that trees are being lost individually and in groups along city streets, parks, private gardens, and residential areas. A thorough understanding of the urban forest patches is required for effective management. This is also critical for achieving UN SDGs 11, 13, and 15. To analyze the spatial-temporal distribution of forest patches, Sentinel 2A image classifications for 2016, 2018, and 2021 were performed. A tree inventory was conducted, as well as an analysis of 9 major roads, 7 parks, 4 government and 4 private properties sampled. A desk review of KCCA institutional reports and scholarly literature was done to understand the current management strategies. The tree inventory included a mixture of plot level strips of 60m length ranging from 1 km to 2.6km at an interval of 30-meter and alternate circular plots with a radius of 20m at 5-meter interval using stratified systematic sampling. A total of 2,542 trees of 134 species were counted, with 33% being native and 67% exotic, with Ficus benjamina being the most abundant. The diameter class distribution of the sampled trees exhibited a reverse J-shaped. For trees in the city, road reserves had the highest carbon stock (76.1 CO2e ha-1) and leisure parks had the lowest (2.4 tCO2e ha1 ). In total, 706.4 tCO2e was estimated in the above tree components in Kampala, with a mean of 19.33tCO2e ha-1 . Carbon stock distribution and species richness differed significantly across urban forest patches at the 0.05 significance level (p < 0.05), whereas species diversity (p-value >0.05) did not. The Urban Forest Patches has enormous potential to contribute to biological diversity conservation and carbon sequestration in the city. If the city's sustainability goals are to be met, city management should consider targeted management strategies to increase the urban forest cover and upscale urban forestry of Kampala in pursuit of a low-carbon development path. | en_US |
