Forests Are Key to Climate Mitigation

Unlike past events, ongoing climate action is a reactive process, and the degree of reaction may exceed the quantum of societal actions. The current scientific consensus that the earth will remain healthy if carbon dioxide levels are maintained below 350 ppm stands defied and the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration has exceeded the threshold by almost 69 ppm as of December 2022. Since 1860s, the peninsular India has warmed by an average of 1.0 ± 0.2 °C. India has suffered more than 758 natural disasters between 1900 and 2022 and this number inter alia includes droughts, earthquakes, storms, epidemics, floods, and fires. There have been 268 reported flooding events in India between 1950 and 2015 affecting about 825 million people, leaving 17 million homeless and killing 69,000 people. In addition to the extreme rainfall events, the central Indian region has also witnessed a decline in the mean monsoon rainfall that is attributed to a weakening of monsoon circulation due to factors including the warming of the Indian Ocean, and increasing frequency and magnitude of El Nino events. Natural forests have tremendous potential to sequester carbon. One cubic meter of growing stock, on average, equals 1.3 tons of biomass of which 0.7 tons is carbon and 0.6 tons is shared by other elements. The average carbon stock in one hectare of natural forest equals 81 tons. Unfortunately, the growing stock of Indian forests is a matter of concern, particularly in view of the fact that the growing stock of recorded forest area has remained almost close to 4200 million cubic meters since the 2013 assessment report. Reducing and reversing forest loss can, therefore, contribute significantly to climate mitigation efforts.