Carbon Inventory Methods in Indian Forests - A Review

Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), participating countries are required to report national inventory of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions or uptake. The current challenge is to reduce the uncertainties in producing accurate and reliable activity data of Carbon (C) stock changes and emission factors essential for reporting national inventories. Improvements in above ground biomass estimation can also help account for changes in C stock in forest areas that may potentially participate in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), REDD plus and other initiatives. The methods adopted for such estimations vary with respect to geography, objective of the study, available expertise, data and scientific excellence adopted. However the current objectives for such estimates need a unified approach which can be measurable, reportable, and verifiable. This might result to a geographically referenced biomass density database for tropical forests that would reduce uncertainties in estimating annual biomass increment and forest aboveground biomass. In the light of above requirements, this paper intends to present an overview of the methodologies adopted in India from local to country level estimates to assess C sequestration potential in different forest components. The paper also discusses remote sensing and Geographical Information System (GIS) initiatives taken in this field and the possibility of adopting an integrated approach for reliable, accurate and cost effective estimates.