Decoding carbon sequestration: The impact of agriculture, conservation policies, climate, and land use

Pakistan’s forests play avital role in mitigating climate change by absorbing and storing carbon dioxide from the air, making them essential natural carbon sinks. Achieving a balance between logging and forest preservation is necessary for the country to meet global climate goals. This study employs a robust least squares regression approach to identify the components of carbon sequestration, using quarterly time series data from 1990 Quartile 1 to 2023 Quartile 4. The findings show that agricultural income, forest preservation legislation, rainfall variability, high temperatures, and land-use changes significantly affect carbon sequestration in Pakistan. Positive changes in forest cover highlight the need for continuous afforestation and replanting efforts. However, a decline in forest carbon sink capacity due to agricultural output and land-use changes hampers climate change mitigation. The results emphasize the delicate balance between economic growth and environmental conservation. These findings suggest that addressing the challenges of climate change and land use requires specialized policies that prioritize forest conservation while managing economic costs.