Ecosystem Carbon Sequestration

Combating greenhouse gas emission through reducing sources or enhancing sinks has been the priority theme of global research since mid-1990s. Ecosystem Carbon (C) stock and sequestration rate were studied with respect to progressive and retrogressive changes in land uses. Therefore, considering the perspective of environment management and conservation, PB agroforestry would be a better alternative to accelerate ecosystem C sequestration on degraded lands. Since direct carbon-di-oxide (CO 2 ) emission from land use change (LUC) alone contributes ~10% of total anthropogenic emission, it is one of the most important human-driven anthropogenic sources of atmospheric CO 2 . The LUC from natural forest to other land uses show that PB agroforestry is more resilient system with only 9% less vegetation C than that under forest. The ecosystem C stock, comprising biomass and soil, was measured for six predominant land uses of northeast India. The stem density in natural or plantation forest is mostly influenced by the intensity of anthropogenic interventions and management practices.