Abstract

Climate change is now undoubtedly a global phenomenon, affecting community and biodiversity worldwide. Forests are sinks as well as sources of carbon emissions and are estimated to store 1146 petagrams (a petagram is a billion metric tons) of carbon in the world’s forested ecosystems. Of all the clean development mechanism (CDM) projects registered through the UNFCCC to date, only one is classified as an Afforestation Reforestation project. It is surprising to know that so little progress has been made in this sector which offers enormous options to cut down CO₂ emissions and helps the host country attain sustainable development through community participation. India, through its efficient and wise policies regarding forest conservation, has set an example in the climate change mitigation efforts. These initiatives can now be utilized as opportunities. Current rules regarding working plan of forest has to be modified to accommodate the carbon sequestration potential of the forests in India. Data collection dedicated for forestry carbon offset projects should find emphasis in our working plan code. This paper seeks to address the issues regarding baseline data collection for forestry carbon projects, and further amendments required in the databank to effectively mitigate climate change and earn revenues through such mitigating efforts in a sustainable manner.