484
J. A. Dar et al.
Keywords Forest biomes · Carbon sequestration · Climate change mitigation ·
Deforestation · Socio-economic aspects
1 Introduction
Our Earth, the only known habitable planet has a long history of constant fluctuations
in climate, alternating between warm and cold periods, which is evidenced by data
from samples of ice cores, pollen, tree rings, etc. (Lackner et al. 2012). Greenhouse
effect keeps the earth warm enough to hold life by absorbing and re-emitting the
infrared radiation by means of various greenhouse gases such as water vapour, carbon
dioxide (CO 2 ), methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, etc., else the earth would be 33 °C
colder than the present (Karl and Trenberth 2003; Lackner et al. 2012). CO 2 is the
most important greenhouse gas, due to its higher concentration in the atmosphere
as compared to others (Lackner et al. 2012), and its concentration increased rapidly
from the pre-industrial levels of 280 ppm (Penuelas et al. 2013; Hui et al. 2017) to
408.53 ppm as on October 2019 (CO 2 Earth, https://www.co2.earth/). Atmospheric
concentration of CO 2 is expected to rise up to 486–1000 ppm, based on the differences
in model scenarios (Lindner et al. 2010; Hui et al. 2017). The mean temperature of
Earth’s surface has already risen by 0.8–1.2 °C above pre-industrial levels since 1900
due to various human activities and is expected to reach 1.5 °C between 2030 and
2052, if it continues to increase at the current rate and no mitigation measure is taken
(Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2013). Such a trend in global
warming has brought about significant alterations in global climate.
Anthropogenic activities, such as deforestation, land-use changes, burning of fossil fuels, etc. have led to climate change at a greater pace resulting in various catastrophes including flood, draught, forest fire, etc. Evidence for climate change has already
been documented with a rise in sea level, decrease in Arctic ice, decrease in snow
cover, increase in the intensity and frequency of extreme events, warming of oceans,
etc. (National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), http://climate.nasa.
gov/evidence/; Dantas-Torres 2015). World’s all ecological and economic systems
are dependent upon climate and change in climate induces uncertainty on the stability
of these systems (IPCC 2014; Steiner et al. 2018). Climate change has the tendency
to cause enormous loss of biodiversity, slowing evolutionary potential and disrupt
ecological services (Dawson et al. 2011). Although climate change would affect various regions of the world with varied intensity, Asia is known to be one of the most
vulnerable regions due to its large land cover and dense population (Akram 2012;
Bhuiyan et al. 2018). Moreover, as biodiversity is much concentrated in the developing countries, these nations become much vulnerable to climate change as they
suffer from biodiversity, ecosystem, and resource losses (eco-biological aspects) on
one hand, and less affordability to mitigation and adaptation costs (socio-economic
aspects) on the other. At this critical juncture, the role of forests in mitigating climate change is immense, as they help to overcome the overwhelming eco-biological
and socio-economic impacts of climate change. Different forest types and biomes in
J. A. Dar et al.
Keywords Forest biomes · Carbon sequestration · Climate change mitigation ·
Deforestation · Socio-economic aspects
1 Introduction
Our Earth, the only known habitable planet has a long history of constant fluctuations
in climate, alternating between warm and cold periods, which is evidenced by data
from samples of ice cores, pollen, tree rings, etc. (Lackner et al. 2012). Greenhouse
effect keeps the earth warm enough to hold life by absorbing and re-emitting the
infrared radiation by means of various greenhouse gases such as water vapour, carbon
dioxide (CO 2 ), methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, etc., else the earth would be 33 °C
colder than the present (Karl and Trenberth 2003; Lackner et al. 2012). CO 2 is the
most important greenhouse gas, due to its higher concentration in the atmosphere
as compared to others (Lackner et al. 2012), and its concentration increased rapidly
from the pre-industrial levels of 280 ppm (Penuelas et al. 2013; Hui et al. 2017) to
408.53 ppm as on October 2019 (CO 2 Earth, https://www.co2.earth/). Atmospheric
concentration of CO 2 is expected to rise up to 486–1000 ppm, based on the differences
in model scenarios (Lindner et al. 2010; Hui et al. 2017). The mean temperature of
Earth’s surface has already risen by 0.8–1.2 °C above pre-industrial levels since 1900
due to various human activities and is expected to reach 1.5 °C between 2030 and
2052, if it continues to increase at the current rate and no mitigation measure is taken
(Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2013). Such a trend in global
warming has brought about significant alterations in global climate.
Anthropogenic activities, such as deforestation, land-use changes, burning of fossil fuels, etc. have led to climate change at a greater pace resulting in various catastrophes including flood, draught, forest fire, etc. Evidence for climate change has already
been documented with a rise in sea level, decrease in Arctic ice, decrease in snow
cover, increase in the intensity and frequency of extreme events, warming of oceans,
etc. (National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), http://climate.nasa.
gov/evidence/; Dantas-Torres 2015). World’s all ecological and economic systems
are dependent upon climate and change in climate induces uncertainty on the stability
of these systems (IPCC 2014; Steiner et al. 2018). Climate change has the tendency
to cause enormous loss of biodiversity, slowing evolutionary potential and disrupt
ecological services (Dawson et al. 2011). Although climate change would affect various regions of the world with varied intensity, Asia is known to be one of the most
vulnerable regions due to its large land cover and dense population (Akram 2012;
Bhuiyan et al. 2018). Moreover, as biodiversity is much concentrated in the developing countries, these nations become much vulnerable to climate change as they
suffer from biodiversity, ecosystem, and resource losses (eco-biological aspects) on
one hand, and less affordability to mitigation and adaptation costs (socio-economic
aspects) on the other. At this critical juncture, the role of forests in mitigating climate change is immense, as they help to overcome the overwhelming eco-biological
and socio-economic impacts of climate change. Different forest types and biomes in