ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Agroecology and Ecosystem Services
This article is part of the Research TopicAgroforestry for Climate-Smart Livelihoods and Ecosystem RestorationView all articles
Exploration of Green House Gas Emissions, Avoided Deforestation Potential and Carbon Trade: Insights from Prominent Agroforestry Systems of Indian Himalaya
Provisionally accepted
Iqra Farooq1
Dr Nazir A. Pala1*G. M. Bhat1
Megna Rashid1P. A. Sofi1Peerzada Ishtiyak Ahmad1A. R. Malik1J. A. Mugloo1Shaista Khan1M. Maqbool Rather1Eranbemo Ovung1
Shiekh Marifatul Haq2- 1Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Srinagar, India
- 2Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia
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Abstract The present study is reported from the central region of Indian Kashmir Himalayas with the aim of (i) identifying and documenting tree species in the agroforestry systems along with the preferred usage, (ii) quantifying GHG emissions and avoided deforestation potential, and (iii) assessing biomass and carbon stock for their trade potential. Purposive, multi-stage, and random sampling procedures were followed for the selection of sampling units based on the availability of agroforestry land use systems. A total of 19 tree species belonging to 9 families and 12 genera were documented. Species like Populus deltoides, Populus nigra, Salix alba, and Salix fragilis were found to be highly preferred for fuelwood, fodder, and small timber extraction. The total green house gas (GHG) emission potential of this extracted material is 64.35 tC and 235.95 tCO2, with the maximum CO2 emission from Salix alba (28.05 tCO2). A total quantity of 143 quintals of biomass is extracted annually from the 19 tree species utilized for fuelwood, fodder, and small timber, resulting in an average avoided deforestation potential of 75.26 m3. The highest offset value of US$ 1492.79 /Mg was recorded for Horti-silvi-pastoral systems, followed by Homegardens (US$ 1414.51 /Mg), and the minimum offset value of US$ 626.38 /Mg was recorded for Boundary plantations. On an average, a single sampled household helps to sequester 4.7 Mg of carbon annually in the present study. Therefore, a cluster-based approach by bundling villages together in the entire Ganderbal district would result in approximately sequestering 213,196 Mg CO2e and hence would yield US$ 536,620 per annum. The present study's estimation of carbon stock and carbon offset values could act as a baseline for the future implementation of CDM, REDD, and REDD++ projects in J&K.
Keywords: Carbon trading, Climate Change, deforestation, fuel wood, sequestration
Received: 18 Sep 2025; Accepted: 28 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Farooq, Pala, Bhat, Rashid, Sofi, Ahmad, Malik, Mugloo, Khan, Rather, Ovung and Haq. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Dr Nazir A. Pala
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