Exploration of green house gas emissions, avoided deforestation potential and carbon trade: insights from prominent agroforestry systems of Indian Himalaya

The present study is reported from the central region of Indian Kashmir Himalayas with the aim of (i) identifying and documenting tree species in the agroforestry systems along with the preferred usage, (ii) quantifying green house gas (GHG) emissions and avoided deforestation potential, and (iii) assessing biomass and carbon stock for their trade potential. Purposive, multi-stage, and random sampling procedures were followed for the selection of sampling units based on the availability of agroforestry land use systems. A total of 19 tree species belonging to 9 families and 12 genera were documented. Species like Populus deltoides, Populus nigra, Salix alba, and Salix fragilis were found to be highly preferred for fuelwood, fodder, and small timber extraction. The total green house gas (GHG) emission potential of this extracted material is 64.35 tC and 235.95 tCO 2 , with the maximum CO 2 emission from Salix alba (28.05 tCO 2 ). A total quantity of 143 quintals of biomass is extracted annually from the 19 tree species utilized for fuelwood, fodder, and small timber, resulting in an average avoided deforestation potential of 75.26 m 3 . The highest offset value of US$ 1492.79/Mg was recorded for Horti-silvi-pastoral systems, followed by Homegardens (US$ 1414.51/Mg), and the minimum offset value of US$ 626.38/Mg was recorded for Boundary plantations. On an average, a single sampled household helps to sequester 4.7 Mg of carbon annually in the present study. Therefore, a cluster-based approach by bundling villages together in the entire Ganderbal district would result in approximately sequestering 213,196 Mg CO 2 e and hence would yield US$ 536,620 per annum. The present study's estimation of carbon stock and carbon offset values could act as a baseline for the future implementation of CDM, REDD, and REDD++ projects in J&K.