Carbon Sequestration Potential of Different Land Use Sectors of Western Himalaya

The western Himalayan regions are characterized by marked climatic conditions, variations in topography, soil texture and land use practices. In the present scenario, the fragile landscapes of the Himalayan region are facing an ongoing concern about current and potential climate change impacts. Carbon stocks in vegetation types of western Himalaya have immense ecological significance, vital for the regional and global carbon reserves. Among the vegetation types, the land uses pertaining forests, pasture, agriculture and orchards dominate in this region. The increasing human interventions, land management practices and natural ecosystem processes are the potential sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission in the atmosphere. Deforestation and other changes in land use cause significant exchanges of CO2 between the land and the atmosphere. However, according to the statistics of land records of last one-and-a-half decades, area under agriculture, tree plantations on degraded lands and fallow land declined, whereas area under forests and grassland has increased which has the significant influence on perturbations in the atmospheric carbon budget. The sustainable management regimes for these land uses can increase their potential to act as a sink for long-term carbon storage along with providing livelihood opportunities, and vulnerability of natural resources to climate change can be reduced through adoption of these management practices. Considering the potential role of diverse land use patterns in carbon emission and storage, this chapter aims to provide a holistic view of different land uses of Western Himalayas in climate change mitigation.