Climate Change Mitigation Approach Through Plantation Forestry in India

Few global issues have received more attention than climate change in recent years. Amidst all the discussion about the greenhouse effect one fact is certain; atmospheric CO₂ levels are rising. Forests are both source and sink of carbon dioxide. Carbon can be managed by increasing the efficiency of primary energy conversion and end use so that fewer units of primary fossil energy are required, secona approach is to substitute lower-carbon or carbonfree energy sources. Carbon sequestration could represent a third approach, which can be defined as the capture and secure storage of carbon in a system. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) through its Kyoto Protocol attempts to stabilize the emission of green house gases wherein emission and capture of Carbon dioxide through Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) has been recognized. A new set of definitions related to forestry for the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol has been finalized. Plantation forestry and trees out side forest offers enormous opportunity for carbon capture in India. Assuming that the present forest cover of the country will sustain itself with annual increase in area of plantation, regeneration of degraded forests and afforestation programmes and it is expected that Indian forests will continue to act as net C sink in future. Considerable amount of carbon credits can also be earned through the carbon sequestered by these plantations under the provisions of Kyoto Protocol.