Climate-Smart Agriculture: Potential Role in Carbon Sequestration and to Address Climate Change Under Irrigated Agro-Ecosystems

Ecosystems and their associated living organisms are struggling for their survival and existence due to climate change. The atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gasses (GHG) increases considerably, which has now crossed the digit of 397.60 ppm3 and set to rise further. The climate scenario in Pakistan has posing negative impacts due to persistent change in the climate. In the coming years, i.e., 2025 if the present rate of increases continues, the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide would be increasing the globe’s temperature up to 2 ºC–4 ºC. Minimizing the concentration of atmospheric carbon and sequestering it into the agricultural landscape (soil, trees, crops) is the most effective, cheaper eco-friendly approach. Agroforestry (AF) is an integral part of climate-smart agriculture that involves the growing of forest trees and raising agricultural crops and livestock on a particular piece of land. Agriculture happens to be the major contributor to the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide; however, soil carbon sequestration is the most efficient tool to enrich soil organic carbon pools, which depend on improved agricultural practices. Trees when grown in combination with agricultural crops store more carbon range 34.61 t C ha−1 than the monocrop system with 18.74 t C ha−1. This chapter provides analyzes of the current knowledge about soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration processes and their management in agroforestry systems. A detailed discussion on the useful C sequestration tree species (E. camaldulensis, S. cumin, P. ciliata, A. Acacia, Z. manritiana, C. sinensis, A. indica, D. sisso, Bambusoideae, M. azedarach, and M. alba) in the agroforestry systems and their role in climate change mitigation, enhancing soil organic carbon sequestration in agroforestry soils and sequestration rates, and the processes contributing to the stabilization of SOC in agroforestry soils has been presented. The analysis led to revealing that climate-smart agriculture has great potential to lockup more carbon and helps in the reduction of CO2 emissions to the atmosphere.