Estimating carbon sequestration rates and total carbon stockpile in degraded and non-degraded sites of oak and pine forest of Kumaun central Himalaya

The authors calculated the rates at which CO₂ is being sequestered in two different forest types of Himalaya. For their comparative study they took the degraded and non-degraded sites of pine and oak forests in Kumaun Central Himalaya. The Van Panchayats (VPs) or Community Forests are managing the nondegraded forest sites for centuries, and from this research they have come to know that the sequestration of CO₂ in these non-degraded forests is significantly greater than the degraded forests. The paper recommends the significance of community forests in both Uttarakhand and the world, and advocates that to fight against global warming, the community forests and that people living in severe poverty in these forest areas who become the unsung heroes in the war against global warming, must be paid in lieu of saving their forests, which ultimately become the sink for increased CO₂ worldwide. This business or ‘carbon trading' will indeed evolve as the panacea against the war against global warming.