54
T. V. Ramachandra and S. Bharath
billion) considering INR 2142 ($30) per tonne for carbon trading, which highlights
the scope for higher carbon credits with reforestation of degraded landscapes.
Keywords Carbon sequestration · Emission · Biomass · Footprint · Carbon ratio
1 Introduction
Carbon constitutes the fundamental element in the earth system including the food
chain of biota and exists in different forms and reservoirs, which are distributed and
continually exchanged among the atmosphere, biosphere, lithosphere, and hydrosphere. Autotrophic organisms uptake carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) during photosynthesis
transforming the energy from the sun into a chemical carbohydrate molecule,
converting carbon in the atmosphere to fuel and structural materials for living
organisms. Rampant deforestation and fossil fuel burning have been adding to the
global carbon dynamics with the transformation of inactive carbon. The activities
include burning of fossil fuel (transportation, power generation), industry, agriculture, polluting streams as well as water bodies and unplanned urbanization. Postindustrialization era witnessed an increase in GHG footprint, which constitutes 72% of
CO 2 . The escalation in human-induced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions has been
witnessed as 400 ppm (parts per million) from 280 ppm CO 2 emissions as compared
with preindustrial era, which has contributed to the global warming [5] with changes
in the climate, which affected people’s livelihood with the erosion of key ecosystem
services including ecosystem productivity, water holding capacity, etc.
Forest ecosystems are the large repositories of terrestrial carbon and play a crucial
role in the carbon cycle (C-cycle) through sequestration of atmospheric carbon in
the above ground biomass (AGB), below ground biomass (BGB), and soil organic
carbon (SOC). Forest and soil ecosystems’ role in maintaining the carbon balance
is evident from the uptake of 30% (2 Pg (petagrams) of the annual anthropogenic
CO 2 emissions. The forests storing large quantities of carbon per unit area packed
down through photosynthesis, which gets released with the mismanagement of fragile
ecosystems due to unplanned developmental activities with anthropogenic pressures
[52]. The annual carbon sequestration by the world’s forests has been estimated as
2.4 Gigaton C [34]. Soil stores about two to three times more carbon in organic
form apart from forest woody biomass [56]. Carbon stored in soils as soil organic
carbon (SOC) and the studies focusing on soil’s potential in sequestering carbon is
scanty and received relatively limited attention from the policy community, compared
with carbon storage in the above ground wood biomass [3, 24, 56]. SOC constitutes
the largest terrestrial carbon pool with an estimate of 700–3000 PgC (1 PgC =
1*10
15 gC) across the globe [6]. SOC content in the soils varies based on climate,
moisture, physiography, soil type, elevation, terrestrial vegetation type, density, and
extent. However, inappropriate land-use changes with mismanagement, soil becomes
a source of greenhouse gas emissions (CO 2 , CH 4 ). This necessitates prudent land
management in agricultural practices, restoration of eroded and degraded forest soils
T. V. Ramachandra and S. Bharath
billion) considering INR 2142 ($30) per tonne for carbon trading, which highlights
the scope for higher carbon credits with reforestation of degraded landscapes.
Keywords Carbon sequestration · Emission · Biomass · Footprint · Carbon ratio
1 Introduction
Carbon constitutes the fundamental element in the earth system including the food
chain of biota and exists in different forms and reservoirs, which are distributed and
continually exchanged among the atmosphere, biosphere, lithosphere, and hydrosphere. Autotrophic organisms uptake carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) during photosynthesis
transforming the energy from the sun into a chemical carbohydrate molecule,
converting carbon in the atmosphere to fuel and structural materials for living
organisms. Rampant deforestation and fossil fuel burning have been adding to the
global carbon dynamics with the transformation of inactive carbon. The activities
include burning of fossil fuel (transportation, power generation), industry, agriculture, polluting streams as well as water bodies and unplanned urbanization. Postindustrialization era witnessed an increase in GHG footprint, which constitutes 72% of
CO 2 . The escalation in human-induced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions has been
witnessed as 400 ppm (parts per million) from 280 ppm CO 2 emissions as compared
with preindustrial era, which has contributed to the global warming [5] with changes
in the climate, which affected people’s livelihood with the erosion of key ecosystem
services including ecosystem productivity, water holding capacity, etc.
Forest ecosystems are the large repositories of terrestrial carbon and play a crucial
role in the carbon cycle (C-cycle) through sequestration of atmospheric carbon in
the above ground biomass (AGB), below ground biomass (BGB), and soil organic
carbon (SOC). Forest and soil ecosystems’ role in maintaining the carbon balance
is evident from the uptake of 30% (2 Pg (petagrams) of the annual anthropogenic
CO 2 emissions. The forests storing large quantities of carbon per unit area packed
down through photosynthesis, which gets released with the mismanagement of fragile
ecosystems due to unplanned developmental activities with anthropogenic pressures
[52]. The annual carbon sequestration by the world’s forests has been estimated as
2.4 Gigaton C [34]. Soil stores about two to three times more carbon in organic
form apart from forest woody biomass [56]. Carbon stored in soils as soil organic
carbon (SOC) and the studies focusing on soil’s potential in sequestering carbon is
scanty and received relatively limited attention from the policy community, compared
with carbon storage in the above ground wood biomass [3, 24, 56]. SOC constitutes
the largest terrestrial carbon pool with an estimate of 700–3000 PgC (1 PgC =
1*10
15 gC) across the globe [6]. SOC content in the soils varies based on climate,
moisture, physiography, soil type, elevation, terrestrial vegetation type, density, and
extent. However, inappropriate land-use changes with mismanagement, soil becomes
a source of greenhouse gas emissions (CO 2 , CH 4 ). This necessitates prudent land
management in agricultural practices, restoration of eroded and degraded forest soils