Author(s)

Indu K. Murthy^1,2, K. V. Devi Prasad²

¹Centre for Sustainable Technologies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
²Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Pondicherry University, Kalapet, Puducherry, India.

Implementation of forestry activities as a climate change mitigation option is likely to result in a range of outcomes in addition to carbon sequestration and these include changes with respect to environmental, social and economic aspects. These impacts to the extent when positive are deemed “co-benefit” and if adverse and uncertain, imply risk. It is important to recognize that implementation of forestry mitigation activities can have varied environmental, socio-economic co-benefits and/or risks. Further, there is no general agreement on attribution of co-benefits and risks to specific forestry mitigation activities. An overarching risk to mitigation potential that could be realised by implementation of forestry activities is climate change. But, overall, forestry mitigation activities also contribute to the sustainable development agenda. Maximizing co-benefits of forestry mitigation measures can increase efficiency in achieving the objectives of other international agreements.

Forestry Mitigation, Co-Benefits, Climate Change, Risks, Sustainable Development

Murthy, I. and Prasad, K. (2018) Co-Benefits and Risks of Implementation of Forestry Activities for Climate Change Mitigation in India. Natural Science, 10, 278-287. doi: 10.4236/ns.2018.107028.