Agroforestry interventions in India: Focus on environmental services and livelihood security

Abstract

In India, agroforestry practices are very ancient but the organized agroforestry research began during eighties. With the support of scientific research of last three decades, agroforestry has made significant contribution towards well being of the people particularly, small and marginal farmers and helped the Indian economy to grow by way of various tangible and intangible contributions. The research initiatives helped in creating awareness among the common man for the protection and preservation of trees, bushes and grasses and increasing area under agroforestry. A major role for agroforestry is now emerging in the domain of environmental services such as biodiversity conservation, watershed protection, carbon sequestration and mitigating climate change effects. The paper presents potential and scope of agroforestry interventions as a means of sequestering C in soils and vegetation and mitigating global warming induced by high atmospheric CO₂ concentration.