9.2
Sinks as mitigation option Carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere
by a number of processes that operate on different time scales, and is subsequently
transferred to reservoirs or sinks. Or more simply, we may define 'Sink' as 'any
system that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The fastest process of
removal is absorption into vegetation and surface layer of oceans. Sinks are of
mainly three types viz. oceanic, terrestrial and inferred or missing. The Kyoto
Protocol uses the phrase "land-use-change and forestry" on three occasions: Articles
3.3, 3.4 and 3.7. The Protocol has provisions that allows industrialsed countries
(Article 3.3) to take into account changes in emissions resulting from human induced
land-use, land-use-change and forestry (LULUCF) activities limited to afforestation,
reforestation and deforestation since 1990. Simply put in, it allows afforestation
as a sink to reduce carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. Further, Article
3.4 of the Protocol states that additional human induced activities in the agricultural
soils and LULUCF categories may be added to the three mechanisms (Joint implementation,
Clean Development mechanism and Emission trading) already counted under the Protocol,
subject to certain conditions. Under Article 3.7 the Protocol mentions the phrase
land-use change and forestry, in the context of whether this sector was a net
source of greenhouse gas emissions in 1990. In most of the tropical countries,
as in India, forestry is dominated by government based institutions. These institutions
therefore need support and new insight in order to effectively incorporate mitigation
policies and measures in their resource management activities. India has been
relentlessly implementing one of the largest reforestation programs in the tropics
with over one million hectares planted annually. Nearly half of this reforestation
is on degraded forests and village common land. It is estimated that the carbon
uptake in forests, degraded forests, and plantations is estimated to offset the
gross carbon emissions from the forests sector. Carbon dioxide emissions in India
are projected to increase from no-net emissions in 1990 to 77 million tonnes by
2020. This situation can be turned around by promoting agroforestry, which, according
to a study by the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, can abate 700,000 million
tonnes of carbon on a dedicated 69 million hectares of land. |
