Trend of studies on carbon sequestration dynamics in the Himalaya hotspot region: A review

Abstract

The present communication deals with the carbon dynamics in the Himalaya hotspot region. The Himalaya, a mountain range shared by Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar, is one of the biologically richest regions in the world that play an important role as source and sink in global carbon cycle. The purpose of this paper was to review and provide available studies related to carbon sequestration in the Himalayas. The carbon in forest is stored in five different pools viz. above-ground biomass, below-ground biomass, litter, deadwood and soil organic carbon. Estimates of biomass, carbon stock and soil organic carbon contents by almost all forest types including agroforestry systems and plantations in the Himalaya hotspot have been documented in this communication. The net rate of carbon sequestrated by forest was reported to be 2.4 ±0.4 Pg C yr-1 on a global scale. The Indian Himalayan Region constitutes about 5.4 billion tonnes of C and sequesters about 65 million tonnes of C yr-1. We analysed more than 135 peer-reviewed journal articles related to biomass and carbon sequestration. The review identifies that the studies estimated 3697.05, 3898.10 and 4235.05 tonnes carbon per hectare for Western, Central and Eastern Himalayan region respectively. The research on the biomass/carbon estimation received attention as early as 1980s, but increased gradually after 2001. These findings would contribute to policy-makers with useful information for mitigation of CO2 emissions.

Terrestrial Carbon Stock Potential in Selected Forest in Bhutan, India and Nepal

“…The total of aboveground biomass and carbon in conifer forests with a diameter of (60-80) was typically high in India, with 85.4 t/ha (Table 3). It was further supported by data provided by [59] in the Nainital area of Uttarakhand, where research was conducted on the entire biomass of tree species and the highest carbon stock was reported to have been shared by conifer forest. In chir pine or conifer forest, the presence of Quercus species has provided more carbon [60,61] on the other hand, found that tree density and diameter did not affect the aboveground carbon stock of diverse tree species in the Cachar forest [62].…”

“…This conclusion is similar to the findings of [90] who observed that SOC stocks altered predictably with elevation. Since there is little literature from Bhutan on carbon stock (3 percent publication), there is no precise data from Bhutan on carbon stock in previous years, as stated by [59] As a result, it is not included in this part.…”

Factors influencing tree biomass and carbon stock in the Western Himalayas, India

“…The Indian Himalayan region (IHR), a biodiversity hotspot, is home to varied species of flora and fauna and provides numerous ecosystem services (Negi et al, 2019;Ahirwal et al, 2021) such as carbon sequestration, water regulation and livelihood to a million of people. Considering its vast natural wealth and unique environmental conditions, IHR is reported to sequester 65 million tonnes of carbon annually (Tolangay and Moktan, 2020) and possess more significant climate change mitigation potential. In this context, the Central and Western Himalaya has been investigated extensively for biomass and carbon stock estimation (Sharma et al, 2010(Sharma et al, , 2016(Sharma et al, , 2018Gairola et al, 2011;Dar and Sundarapandian, 2015;Dar et al, 2017;Kaushal and Baishya, 2021;Dar and Parthasarathy, 2022;Haq et al, 2022;Tiwari et al, 2023).…”

Carbon density and C‐sequestration of tree plantation ecosystems in the mid‐hills of the NW‐Himalayas: Implications for climate change mitigation

“…The forests of the Himalayan region are a hotspot of biodiversity which provide vital ecosystem services and products (Negi et al, 2019). The forest of the Indian Himalayan region (IHR) sequesters around 65 million tonnes of carbon annually (Tolangay & Moktan, 2020) thus playing a vital role in regulating climate. Specifically, the Himalayan forests have drawn the attention of researchers because of their unique position within the global vegetation pattern.…”