Enhancing Farmer’s Income and Achieving Net Neutrality through Agroforestry A Proposal for India

Agroforestry in India is practiced over an area of 28 million hectares with an identified additional potential of about 29 million hectares. There is an urgent need for incentivizing Indian agroforestry systems by leveraging international carbon finance through carbon credits derived from carbon sequestration. For this purpose, there is a need to develop the standards for voluntary carbon markets that suit Indian agroforestry systems. The AFOLU guidance from the IPCC needs to be adapted to the Indian context for accurate estimation of carbon credits, along with interpreting additionality, permanence, and leakage in the right perspective. Existing voluntary carbon market platforms face limitations in accommodating the unique characteristics of Indian agroforestry systems, including the socio-economic conditions of farmers, fragmented and smaller landholdings, and the forest governance system. As a result, Indian agroforestry has not been able to take advantage of international carbon finance for the mitigation being done through plantations established by individual farmers. It is proposed that a National Net Neutrality Carbon Registry can be established to facilitate the development of carbon credits for agroforestry plantations in India. Corporate investments can play a pivotal role in supporting this initiative, generating carbon incentives for Indian farmers, besides achieving several sustainable development goals, including alleviating poverty, life on earth, and climate action.