Role of Major Forest Biomes in Climate Change Mitigation …
507
enhanced forest management and protection schemes due to sustainable usage (Bettinger et al. 2017). With more awareness on climate change and its impacts caused
due to increased levels of greenhouse gases, the calculation of carbon footprints has
gained significant attention in the last few years.
9 Climate Change and Its Mitigation: Indian Scenario
India is regarded as one of the 17 megadiverse countries (Mittermeier et al. 1997)
and harbors four of the biodiversity hotspots (Himalaya, Indo-Burma, Sundaland,
Western Ghats), three megacentres (Eastern Himalaya, Western Ghats and Western
Himalaya) and 25 microcentres of endemic flora and fauna (Nayar 1996) The wide
range of climatic and topographic conditions support a broad range of habitat types
and hence, biodiversity (Rodgers et al. 2002; Reddy et al. 2017). The Indian forests
has been classified into four major groups and 16 type groups: tropical (wet evergreen, semi-evergreen, moist deciduous, littoral and swamp, dry deciduous, thorn,
dry evergreen), sub-tropical (broad leaved hill forests, pine, dry evergreen), temperate (montane wet, Himalayan moist temperate, Himalayan dry temperate) and
alpine (sub-alpine, moist alpine, dry alpine scrub) forests (Champion and Seth 1968;
Ramachandra et al. 2015). India ranks tenth in terms of forest cover (21.54% in
geographical region) (FAO 2015) and second most populous country (17.5% of the
world’s population) in the world (Reddy et al. 2015). India with its rich biological
and forest wealth on one hand and inflating population on the other is likely to be
adversely affected on both the eco-biological and the socio-economic fronts due to
climate change. This is evident by increase in mean annual temperature by 0.5 °C
during 1901–2003 primarily in northern India, which experienced a steeper rise in
the maximum temperature (1983–2003) as compared to the southern region (Dash
and Hunt 2007; Melkania 2009). It has been estimated that the temperature could
arise between 3.5 and 5.5 °C by 2100 (Kumar and Chopra 2009). The change in
temperature has led to shifts in the location of various forests types. For example,
the forests in the northeast are shifting towards wetter forest types, while those in the
northwest are shifting towards drier forest types, provided there is no human interference (Ravindranath et al. 2006; Melkania 2009). The Himalayan region, which
has a major influence over climate on most of the North India is supposed to be one
of the most vulnerable regions to climate change (Xu et al. 2009; Maiti et al. 2017).
The alternation in the climate has been influencing the Himalayan glaciers severely
impacting the water supply, agriculture, energy sector, etc. of the regions traversed by
major rivers in India. It has been projected that Himalayan glaciers would shrink to a
mere 1,00,000 km
2 by 2030, with the current rates of global warming (Kumar 2005;
Kumar and Chopra 2009). The rapid melt of glaciers would cause rivers to swell
up during monsoons leading to flooding and the water level would fall to low levels
during summers causing water shortage (Bajracharya et al. 2007; Kumar and Chopra
2009). The fact that the wet seasons are likely to become wetter and the dry seasons
are likely to become drier in India, would affect the seasonal cycle of plants and
507
enhanced forest management and protection schemes due to sustainable usage (Bettinger et al. 2017). With more awareness on climate change and its impacts caused
due to increased levels of greenhouse gases, the calculation of carbon footprints has
gained significant attention in the last few years.
9 Climate Change and Its Mitigation: Indian Scenario
India is regarded as one of the 17 megadiverse countries (Mittermeier et al. 1997)
and harbors four of the biodiversity hotspots (Himalaya, Indo-Burma, Sundaland,
Western Ghats), three megacentres (Eastern Himalaya, Western Ghats and Western
Himalaya) and 25 microcentres of endemic flora and fauna (Nayar 1996) The wide
range of climatic and topographic conditions support a broad range of habitat types
and hence, biodiversity (Rodgers et al. 2002; Reddy et al. 2017). The Indian forests
has been classified into four major groups and 16 type groups: tropical (wet evergreen, semi-evergreen, moist deciduous, littoral and swamp, dry deciduous, thorn,
dry evergreen), sub-tropical (broad leaved hill forests, pine, dry evergreen), temperate (montane wet, Himalayan moist temperate, Himalayan dry temperate) and
alpine (sub-alpine, moist alpine, dry alpine scrub) forests (Champion and Seth 1968;
Ramachandra et al. 2015). India ranks tenth in terms of forest cover (21.54% in
geographical region) (FAO 2015) and second most populous country (17.5% of the
world’s population) in the world (Reddy et al. 2015). India with its rich biological
and forest wealth on one hand and inflating population on the other is likely to be
adversely affected on both the eco-biological and the socio-economic fronts due to
climate change. This is evident by increase in mean annual temperature by 0.5 °C
during 1901–2003 primarily in northern India, which experienced a steeper rise in
the maximum temperature (1983–2003) as compared to the southern region (Dash
and Hunt 2007; Melkania 2009). It has been estimated that the temperature could
arise between 3.5 and 5.5 °C by 2100 (Kumar and Chopra 2009). The change in
temperature has led to shifts in the location of various forests types. For example,
the forests in the northeast are shifting towards wetter forest types, while those in the
northwest are shifting towards drier forest types, provided there is no human interference (Ravindranath et al. 2006; Melkania 2009). The Himalayan region, which
has a major influence over climate on most of the North India is supposed to be one
of the most vulnerable regions to climate change (Xu et al. 2009; Maiti et al. 2017).
The alternation in the climate has been influencing the Himalayan glaciers severely
impacting the water supply, agriculture, energy sector, etc. of the regions traversed by
major rivers in India. It has been projected that Himalayan glaciers would shrink to a
mere 1,00,000 km
2 by 2030, with the current rates of global warming (Kumar 2005;
Kumar and Chopra 2009). The rapid melt of glaciers would cause rivers to swell
up during monsoons leading to flooding and the water level would fall to low levels
during summers causing water shortage (Bajracharya et al. 2007; Kumar and Chopra
2009). The fact that the wet seasons are likely to become wetter and the dry seasons
are likely to become drier in India, would affect the seasonal cycle of plants and