Role of Major Forest Biomes in Climate Change Mitigation …
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mitigation. Broadly, India has undertaken several initiatives in different sectors like
energy, transport, agriculture, industry, forestry, etc. towards meeting the objectives
of UNFCCC (Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, http://envfor.
nic.in).
10 Climate Change Mitigation: The Way Forward
Effective climate change mitigation requires constant planning, implementation, and
assessments to protect the biodiversity from going extinction, even on a local scale.
An ecosystem that is species-rich offers more and better ecosystem services than the
one which is species-poor. Therefore, conservation planning is a very critical step
towards climate change mitigation and it must consider the environmental factors,
phenologies, patterns of species distribution, species interactions and other ecological processes that govern a species’ vulnerability to extinction (Monzon et al. 2011;
Staudinger et al. 2013). Usage of computational mathematical models would better enable in predicting novel climates and biological responses (Hannah and Bird
2018), which would pave way for better biodiversity conservation. (and other climatic studies demand a great attention. Assisted colonization or assisted migration,
where species with poor dispersal abilities are intentionally moved out of their historic ranges to new areas that would be climatically suitable under climate change
scenarios may save them from extinction (Hoegh-Guldberg et al. 2008; Pravalie
2018). Connectivity corridors prevent local extinctions and help alleviate the effects
of habitat fragmentation (Damschen et al. 2006; Pravalie 2018). Afforestation and
reforestation on abandoned and degraded lands may increase local species richness,
besides offering considerable ecosystem benefits. In areas that are prone to flooding,
fast-growing and high-water consuming tree species are the better choice to reduce
the flood risk. In contrast, areas that suffer drought could be planted with slowgrowing and less water-consuming tree species to increase the infiltration (Ellison
et al. 2017). In general, mixed species forests tend to be healthier and more productive
than monocultures as the presence of different species with different requirements
helps in aiding each other in water absorption, nutrient uptake, erosion control, etc.
and are more resilient in the face of climate change (Reubens et al. 2007; Paquette
and Messier 2011;Ordonez et al. 2014; Pretzsch et al. 2014; Ellison et al. 2017).
Aside from protecting biodiversity by the above measures, the life cycle assessments of greenhouse gases would help in better framing of policies and evaluation of
options aimed towards climate change mitigation (Reijnders 2012). It is also essential
to abruptly halt the deforestation of old-growth forests and limit land-use changes to
minimize the pressures on forest ecosystems (Koh and Ghazoul 2010; Lambin and
Meyfroidt 2011; Reed 2012). Development of novel cleaner energy technologies
and implementation of the existing technologies (Pacala and Socolow 2004; Reed
2012) would lessen the effects of pollution and lower the burden on fossil fuels.
More so, energy conservation would provide natural ecosystems adequate time to
509
mitigation. Broadly, India has undertaken several initiatives in different sectors like
energy, transport, agriculture, industry, forestry, etc. towards meeting the objectives
of UNFCCC (Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, http://envfor.
nic.in).
10 Climate Change Mitigation: The Way Forward
Effective climate change mitigation requires constant planning, implementation, and
assessments to protect the biodiversity from going extinction, even on a local scale.
An ecosystem that is species-rich offers more and better ecosystem services than the
one which is species-poor. Therefore, conservation planning is a very critical step
towards climate change mitigation and it must consider the environmental factors,
phenologies, patterns of species distribution, species interactions and other ecological processes that govern a species’ vulnerability to extinction (Monzon et al. 2011;
Staudinger et al. 2013). Usage of computational mathematical models would better enable in predicting novel climates and biological responses (Hannah and Bird
2018), which would pave way for better biodiversity conservation. (and other climatic studies demand a great attention. Assisted colonization or assisted migration,
where species with poor dispersal abilities are intentionally moved out of their historic ranges to new areas that would be climatically suitable under climate change
scenarios may save them from extinction (Hoegh-Guldberg et al. 2008; Pravalie
2018). Connectivity corridors prevent local extinctions and help alleviate the effects
of habitat fragmentation (Damschen et al. 2006; Pravalie 2018). Afforestation and
reforestation on abandoned and degraded lands may increase local species richness,
besides offering considerable ecosystem benefits. In areas that are prone to flooding,
fast-growing and high-water consuming tree species are the better choice to reduce
the flood risk. In contrast, areas that suffer drought could be planted with slowgrowing and less water-consuming tree species to increase the infiltration (Ellison
et al. 2017). In general, mixed species forests tend to be healthier and more productive
than monocultures as the presence of different species with different requirements
helps in aiding each other in water absorption, nutrient uptake, erosion control, etc.
and are more resilient in the face of climate change (Reubens et al. 2007; Paquette
and Messier 2011;Ordonez et al. 2014; Pretzsch et al. 2014; Ellison et al. 2017).
Aside from protecting biodiversity by the above measures, the life cycle assessments of greenhouse gases would help in better framing of policies and evaluation of
options aimed towards climate change mitigation (Reijnders 2012). It is also essential
to abruptly halt the deforestation of old-growth forests and limit land-use changes to
minimize the pressures on forest ecosystems (Koh and Ghazoul 2010; Lambin and
Meyfroidt 2011; Reed 2012). Development of novel cleaner energy technologies
and implementation of the existing technologies (Pacala and Socolow 2004; Reed
2012) would lessen the effects of pollution and lower the burden on fossil fuels.
More so, energy conservation would provide natural ecosystems adequate time to