Carbon Sequestration for Major Land Use/ Land Cover Types of Urmodi Basin of Maharashtra, India

Abstract

Aim: The goal is to calculate total biomass, carbon stock, and total CO2 sequestered by forest and crop in the watershed. To create a thematic map to investigate spatial variation. Place and Duration of Study: The study took place in the Urmodi basin in Satara, Maharashtra (India) between June 2015 and June 2016. Methodology: In this study, carbon stocks in different land use categories in the Urmodi basin were assessed using in situ destructive and non-destructive biomass estimating methods. To investigate the spatial variance of carbon stock values in the Urmodi basin, thematic maps were created. Results: The carbon stock value of vegetation in the Urmodi basin was 0.53 million tonnes of carbon. The amount of CO2 sequestered by vegetation in the Urmodi basin was 1.973 million tonnes. Conclusion: In micro watersheds, low carbon stock values were linked to damaged land. If fresh plant cover is formed on damaged lands, they have a great potential to store carbon in the soil. By sequestering a significant amount of CO2 from the atmosphere, vegetation plays a vital part in the global carbon cycle. As a result, carbon sequestration through forest growth is the most cost-effective method of mitigating global climate change.