CAN AGROFORESTRY CREDITS BE SAVED?

Ensure that farmers benefit from the carbon revenue and stay protected against market failure

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THE INDIAN government is keen on using agroforestry to meet its climate goals, introduce regulation in voluntary carbon market (VCM) projects in the agriculture sector, including agroforestry, and incentivise farmers to switch to sustainable farming practices, Suresh Kumar Chaudhari, deputy director general (natural resource management) at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), tells DTE. "We would like to explore how VCM can be used to meet our Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCS) and sell the rest in the international market," Chaudhari adds.

As per India's NDC, submitted to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the government aims to create additional carbon sinks of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO₂e through increased forest and tree cover by 2030. The 2023 India State of Forest Report (ISFR) shows that India's carbon stock in forests and tree cover has reached 30.43 billion tonnes of CO₂e. Compared to the base year of 2005, when the carbon stock was 28.14 billion tonnes CO₂e, the country has created 2.29 billion tonnes of additional carbon sink and "is on track to meet its 2030 target", states the report. The tree green cover under agroforestry, whose share has increased by over 20 per cent between 2013 and 2023, appears to have played a significant role in reaching this goal. Agroforestry is also one of the potential areas for carbon credits in the framework for the domestic VCM in the agriculture sector, introduced by the Union agriculture ministry in January 2024.