Abstract

Urban forests improve the microclimate and air quality. The objective of this review was to appraise research findings and to summarize the most important literatures on the role of urban forests for carbon emission reduction in Addis Ababa. Total number of identified papers were 11 that studied carbon sequestration potential of urban forests in Addis Ababa and of this church forests (three), public parks (three), botanical garden (one), Mountain forest (Three) and KMU compound included in the review of this paper. The selected research papers used similar allometric equations to calculate carbon stock of the different carbon pools. The mean carbon in the above ground and below ground biomass is 110.84 ± 46.33 t ha^-1 and 21.68 ± 9.31 t ha^-1 respectively. The mean carbon in dead litter and soil carbon were 6.33 ± 5.72 t ha^-1 and 121.02 ± 48 t ha^-1 respectively. The variations of carbon stocks in the different urban forest types relate to area, density and size of trees available in each site. In addition to reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide through sequestration, which is vital for climate change mitigation, urban trees are also beneficial for recreational, medical, aesthetic, and biodiversity conservation.