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Background

(ISFR, 2013)

India’s national forest policy

1988–forest cover should be

33% of total geographical area

Total forest cover 21.23%

Forest and climate

change abatement

Bhavyasree K.T.

2013-11-142

Major Advisor:

Dr. Jayasree Sankar S.

Professor

Dept. of SS&AC

Outline …

• Reduction of forest area – reasons

• Forest – climate relation

• Climate change and its impact

• Mitigation & adaptation

• Mitigation strategy

Carbon sequestration

Carbon conservation

Carbon substitution

• Adaptation strategy

• Trees Outside Forest

• Global initiatives

• National initiatives

• Constraints

• Conclusion

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Reduction of forest cover -

reasons

Green revolution

• 1960’s

• "Global food production

increased; but this has

come at the expense of

vulnerability.“

- Conversion of 18 to 27

mha of forests, woodlands and

pastures in the period 1965 to

2004

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(N.A.S, 2013)

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Deforestation and degradation

9mha of forests lost annually(9 Tg C yr-1)

17% GHG emission from forest sector IPCC , 2007

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Forest – climate relation

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Less climate

change

More climate

change

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Climate change and its

impacts

Climate change

“Any change in climate over time, whether

due to natural variability or as a result of

human activity”

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IPCC, 2007

Impacts of climate change

Changes in precipitation

Rise in sea level Increase in global

temperature

13IPCC, 2013

Can we avoid climate change?

NO

Can we reduce climate change?

YES

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Climate change abatement

–mitigation and adaptation

Mitigation & adaptation

• Mitigation addresses the causes of climate change

(accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere)

• Adaptation addresses the impacts of climate change

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Mitigation strategies

• Carbon sequestration

• Carbon conservation

• Carbon substitution

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Carbon sequestration

• Removing carbon from the atmosphere and depositing it

in a reservoir

• Three major ways:

Oceanic carbon sequestration

Geologic carbon sequestration

Terrestrial or biological carbon sequestration

Soil carbon sequestration Forest carbon sequestration

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Terrestrial carbon sequestration

Soil carbon sequestration

• Next to ocean ,75% carbon pool is on land

• Primarily– soil organic matter

• Conserving soil and water, adding high amounts of

biomass , causing minimal soil disturbances, improving

soil structure and enhancing soil fauna activity will

increase amount of carbon sequestered

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Baitjes et al., 1996

Above ground carbon

sequestration (vegetation)

Below ground carbon

sequestration (soil) 2300 Pg

610 Pg

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Soil carbon sequestration

Forest carbon sequestration

Forest stock

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About 86% of the terrestrial above -ground carbon and 73% of the

earth’s soil carbon are stored in the forests (Rodger, 1993)

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Forest carbon sequestration

Forest fluxAtmospheric CO2

Products

Photosynthesis

Respiration

Mineralisation

Humification

Factors affecting the rate of carbon

sequestration

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Management practices adopted

Tree species involved

Geographic location

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Management practices adopted

Increased carbon

sequestration

Afforestation Reforestation

Forest restoration

(1.5 Gt C yr-1)

Enhancement of forest

carbon stock

Increase of tree cover

Tree species involved

25Chavan and Rasal, 2010

Carbon Sequestration Potential of Teak

(Tectona grandis) Plantations in Kerala

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Felling

regime(yrs.)

No. of trees

removed

Carbon

(t/ha)

5 1739 51.2

10 318 21.34

15 126 12.21

20 103 10.72

30 40 7.23

40 19 6.33

50 155 72.1

Total 2500 181.13

Plantation level carbon sequestration(t/ha)

Sreejesh et.al., 2013

Geographic location

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Tropical forest

Carbon stored in soil less

compared to temperate soil

Temperate forest

Carbon stored in soil more

compared to tropical soil

Carbon conservation

Sustainable Forest Management (SFM)

• Extent of forest resources

• Biological diversity

• Forest health and vitality

• Productive functions of forest resources

• Protective functions of forest resources

• Socio-economic functions

• Legal, policy & institutional framework

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Carbon substitution

Aims at increasing the transfer of forest biomass carbon

in to products

Forest products can substitute for:

Steel and Aluminum

Energy- oil, coal and gas Energy

CO2CO2

Wood

Energy

CO2

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Carbon assessment

Destructive / harvest method

CHNS analyser

Allometric equations

Non- destructive method

Carbon assessment

Example:

Aboveground biomass =

volume of tree (m3) x wood

density Kg/m3 (V=π r2h)

Field measurement

• Inventory/Periodic Accounting

∆C = ∑(Ct2 – Ct1) / (t2 – t1)

∆ C = carbon stock change,

t C y-1

Ct1 = carbon stock at time

t1, t C

Ct2 = carbon stock at time

t2, t C

• Activity-based/Flux Accounting

∆ C = ∑[A .(CI – CL)]

A = area of land, ha

CI = rate of gain of carbon,

t C ha-1yr-1

CL = rate of loss of carbon,

t C ha-1yr-1

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Carbon accounting

Two approaches

Adaptation strategies

• Adaptation is equally important

• Help to reduce the vulnerability of society and

ecosystems

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Importance of forests in adaptation

Forest ecosystem

services

Regulation

Provisioning

Supporting

Cultural

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Adaptation requirement of forests

Direct climate stresses

• Changing precipitation, temperature, wind…

Indirect other stresses

• Increased fires, pests etc.

Consequences

• Loss of productivity, biodiversity, carbon, soil

protection

• Loss of goods and ecosystem services

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Adaptation

Strengthening adaptive

capacity of trees and forests

• Management of forest

biodiversity

• Forest health and vitality

• Integrated fire management

• Adaptive management

practices

Strengthening adaptive capacity

of forest dependent communities

• Coping strategies

• Diversifying forest management –

related employment opportunities

and livelihoods

• Adaptive land use planning and

management

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Trees outside forest

Trees Outside Forest (TOF)

Includes :

• Agroforestry system

• Urban forestry

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TOF- role in climate change abatement

Role in mitigation

• Storing carbon

• Halting land degradation

• Providing fuel to

substitute fossil fuels

• Fixing nitrogen to reduce

the use of chemical

fertilizers

Role in adaptation

• Diversified land use

practices

• Livelihood and sources of

income

• Enhancement of

agricultural productivity

• Buffering against weather

related production losses

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A mixed species home garden in Kerala. Tea+ silver oak system in Munnar, Kerala

Areca + cacao system in Wayanad, Kerala Black pepper + support tree

Agroforestry

Review on agroforestry works in Kerala

related to C sequestration

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Title of the work

Nair et.al., 2010 Carbon sequestration in agroforestry system

Nair, 2011 Agroforestry systems and environmental quality

Nair, 2012 Agroforestry: the future of global land use

Nair, 2007 Coming age of agroforestry

Nair et.al.,2009 Soil carbon sequestration in tropical agroforestry

system. A feasibility appraisal

Saha et.al.,2009 Soil carbon stock in relation to plant diversity of

home gardens in Kerala

Kumar et.al., 1994 Diversity, structure and standing stock of wood in

the home gardens of Kerala

Kumar and Nair, 2004 The enigma of tropical home gardens

Saha et.al.,2010 Carbon storage in relation to soil size fractions

under some tropical tree based land use system

Salient findings

• Agroforestry systems have great potential for C

sequestration

• Agroforestry have indirect effect on carbon storage via C

substitution and C conservation

• Above ground carbon stock – 9.9-172 Mg C ha -1

• Management practices play vital role in mitigation and

adaptation

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Contd..

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Carbon sequestration potential of different

land use and management options

Verchot et al., 2011

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Carbon stocks in different ecosystems

of the humid tropics

Verchot et al., 2011

Global initiatives on climate change

• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

(IPCC)-1988

• United Nations Framework Convention on Climate

Change (UNFCCC)-1992

• Kyoto protocol-1997

• Reducing Emission from Deforestation

and Degradation (REDD)-2005

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India's initiatives on climate change

• “National Action Plan on Climate Change”-

2008

• Green India Mission

Objectives:

• Improve forest services -10 mha of land

• Increase livelihood income -3 million households

• Enhance CO2 sequestration to 50-60 mt by

202045

Constraints

• Inadequate methodologies to find out carbon

sequestration

• Insufficient funds to implement adaptation plans

and programmes

• Increasing cultivable area at the expense of

forests

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Conclusion

• Atmospheric carbon level increases mainly due to

anthropogenic activities

• Expanding the size of global terrestrial sink is inevitable

• Synergy between mitigation and adaptation is to be

maintained

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Way out

World Agroforestry center

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THANK YOU

NO ONE IS TOO YOUNG TO

PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT…