Environmental and economic role of Tectona grandis: A case study

As a mitigation strategy to lower atmospheric carbon dioxide and boost farmers’ net income, tree plantations are advocated as one of the biological tools to sequester carbon. Many tropical nations are implementing agroforestry-based carbon storage programmes; however, it is challenging to quantify the potential for carbon storage. The amount of carbon stored in the plantation, the potential to mitigate carbon from the atmosphere and the market value of 4 and 6-year-old Tectona grandis plantation in Chhattisgarh, India, was estimated. In the present study, the result indicated that the six-year-old plantation has the potential to produce 1650.90 ft³ of the merchantable volume of timber with amarket value of Rs. 20,63,621-1,15,57,929/-per hectare and the merchantable volume and market value produced in the plantation was 1097.87 ft³ and Rs. 15,83,218-76,44,215/-. Similarly, the biomass and carbon stored in a six-year-old plantation was 309.00 t ha⁻¹ and 127.36 t C ha⁻¹ and in the four-year-old plantation it was 221.99 t ha⁻¹ and 91.29 t C ha⁻¹. The CO mitigation potential was 335.04 t CO₂ ha⁻¹ in a four-year old plantation and 467.40 t CO₂ ha⁻¹ in a six-year-old plantation. The response in the India has been shown to be superior since teak is native to the forests of India and is produced on a modest to moderate scale. The results revealed that, with the increase in the age of teak plantations, there is an increase in carbon sequestration in plantations with a higher economic and ecological return.