Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability

The present-day agriculture is facing a major problem in form of climate change. We need to adopt different techniques of climate-smart technologies to minimize greenhouse gas emissions and form a strong path to face different binding treaties of world against climate change. To fight this situation, Agroforestry systems becomes a potential, cost effective and an effective tool in climate change mitigation and adaptation steps. Carbon sequestration through trees is one of the most discussed and accepted practice for carbon credit. There is huge potential for enhanced carbon sequestration, higher productivity and better soil quality after restoration of degraded lands through agroforestry or tree based farming. Agroforestry has emerged as a land use system that can significantly contribute towards environmental security through carbon sequestration. The aim of agroforestry is to get economical benefit from ecological interactions resulting from cultivation of woody perennials along with crop/animal on the same piece of land. The selection of suitable agroforestry technology for a specific agro-ecological region is very important. In agroforestry, the inclusion of woody perennials checks erosion, enhance water holding capacity, soil fertility, biodiversity, carbon sequestration in addition to better aesthetic value. These benefits are observed at an early stage in comparison to pure plantations or forests due to utilization of multilayer strata. This article highlights potential of agroforestry interventions as a means of sequestering carbon through woody perennials and in soils for mitigating global warming.