Statics of Carbon Offset for Agro Forestry

Statics of Carbon Offset for Agro Forestry

Each year, forests absorb the equivalent of about 2 G of CO2 (FAO 2018). The loss and degradation of forests are also thought to be responsible for 20% of the world's annual emissions of greenhouse gases. Despite a roughly a third drop in deforestation carbon fluxes between 1990 and 2020, deforestation is still the second-largest human source of atmospheric CO2 (after fossil fuel combustion)

The presence of gases like CO2, CH4, N2O, water vapor, and others in our atmosphere naturally produces the greenhouse effect. However, higher atmospheric concentrations of these gases have led to an imbalance and have amplified the greenhouse effect, which has warmed the planet. Many groups throughout the world are striving to reduce CO2 concentration using a variety of ways, including reducing energy usage, producing low- or no-carbon fuel, and capturing CO2 through forestry, agroforestry, and engineering methods. It is known that agroforestry can improve carbon sinks and lower CO2 emissions.

According to a study, increasing the amount of land covered by agroforestry systems, which combine trees and crops, is a promising way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to India's nationally determined contributions to the UNFCCC.

Scientists have recognized agroforestry systems, which incorporate trees in agricultural landscapes, for their significance in reducing climate change by functioning as a carbon sink since trees store atmospheric carbon in their biomass. The greatest carbon reserve in terrestrial ecosystems, soil organic carbon, which is a part of soil organic matter, can be improved through agroforestry methods. Additionally, these systems offer extra advantages like raising food security, enhancing livelihoods, lowering biodiversity losses, and slowing the rate of land degradation, among other things. Experts concur that agroforestry may be a win-win situation as a result.

The humid zones of India had greater soil organic carbon reserves (51.8 Mg C/ha) and total biomass carbon stocks (97.9 Mg C/ha) than any other zone due to agroforestry methods. Sub humid zones had the lowest biomass carbon reserves (32.5 Mg C/ha), while semiarid zones had the lowest soil organic carbon stocks (26.8 Mg C/ha). In areas with agroforestry, medium altitudes (800–1900 meters above sea level) had larger soil organic carbon stores (51.2 Mg C/ha) than high (46.7 Mg C/ha) and low (32.7 Mg C/ha) altitudes.

By 2050, the total amount of carbon sequestered increases from 10.5 to 13.6 Pentagrams CO2 eq. by expanding the area covered by all agroforestry systems from the current 16.7 million hectares (ha) in the first scenario to 21.3 million ha in the second scenario.