The ever-increasing vehicle counts have resulted in a significant increase in air pollution impacting human and natural ecosystems including trees, and physical properties. Roadside plantations often act as a first defense line against the vehicular emissions to mitigate the impacts of pollutants. However, they are themselves vulnerable to these pollutants with varying levels of tolerance capacity. This demands a scientific investigation to assess the role of roadside plantation for better management and planning for urban sprawl where selected trees could be grown to mitigate the impacts of harmful pollutants. The present study assesses the impacts of vehicular emissions on the adaptation and mitigation potential of two important roadside tree species i.e. Grevillea robusta and Mangifera indica planted along roadsides in the capital city of Uttarakhand. Uttarakhand is one of the Indian Western Himalayan State and its capital city is situated on the foothills of Himalaya. The adaptation and mitigation potential were evaluated by studying the response of pollutants on the functional traits which drive the physiology of the trees. The CO₂ assimilation rate, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance, water use efficiency (WUE), air pollution tolerance index (APTI), copper and proline accumulation, dust removal efficiency (DRE), leaf thickness and cooling created by plantation were studied to evaluate the response of trees exposed to roadside traffics. To compare the influence of pollutants, traits of trees grown in a control site with few or absence of vehicular movement were compared with the roadside trees. The control site represented part of a reserve forest where human interference is controlled and human-induced activities are prohibited. The vehicular frequency was found to modulate tree characteristics. The tree characteristics representing WUE, APTI, proline and copper accumulation, leaf thickness, cooling impact, and DRE were enhanced significantly, while the decreased CO₂ assimilation rate was observed near roadside trees compared to the control site. We found both of the species to perform well to be used as one of the potential species for roadside and urban greening. However, there is a need to assess the potential of other species in reference to the present study.

Traditional agroforestry systems across South Asia have historically supported millions of smallholding farmers. Since, 2007 agroforestry has received attention in global climate discussions for its carbon sink potential. Agroforestry plays a defining role in offsetting greenhouse gases, providing sustainable livelihoods, localizing Sustainable Development Goals and achieving biodiversity targets. The review explores evidence of agroforestry systems for human well-being along with its climate adaptation and mitigation potential for South Asia. In particular, we explore key enabling and constraining conditions for mainstreaming agroforestry systems to use them to fulfill global climate mitigation targets. Nationally determined contributions submitted by South Asian countries to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change acknowledge agroforestry systems. In 2016, South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation’s Resolution on Agroforestry brought consensus on developing national agroforestry policies by all regional countries and became a strong enabling condition to ensure effectiveness of using agroforestry for climate targets. Lack of uniform methodologies for creation of databases to monitor tree and soil carbon stocks was found to be a key limitation for the purpose. Water scarcity, lack of interactive governance, rights of farmers and ownership issues along with insufficient financial support to rural farmers for agroforestry were other constraining conditions that should be appropriately addressed by the regional countries to develop their preparedness for achieving national climate ambitions. Our review indicates the need to shift from planning to the implementation phase following strong examples shared from India and Nepal, including carbon neutrality scenarios, incentives and sustainable local livelihood to enhance preparedness.

The Himalayan ecosystem is one of the sensitive and fragile ecosystems with rich biodiversity that provides major ecosystem services. The study was conducted to measure the extent of vulnerability across forested grids of Uttarakhand—one of the States of Indian Western Himalayan (IWH) region. The forests of the state are exposed to various anthropogenic and natural climatic pressures, thus making them vulnerable. In this paper, we demonstrate how to map vulnerability of forest ecosystem by analyzing variability and trends of net primary productivity (NPP). The vulnerability of the forest ecosystem was evaluated through trends of sensitivity and adaptability of NPP. The sensitivity of a system was considered as the response degree of the system to climatic variability whereas adaptability was considered as the ability to maintain, recover or improve its structure in the face of climatic stresses. In our study, NPP was considered as the receptor of shock and stresses of climatic variability and human disturbances. We discuss the method and results with reference to productivity changes under the influence of changing climate for the forested landscape of a mountainous region. The results have been summarized to rank vulnerability at the level of administrative boundary of governance, i.e. district. Average value of vulnerability for all NPP pixels of forests grids in a district was used to compute the vulnerability at district level. The study will help forest managers in decision making for efficiently allocating resources and to prioritize management options in the identified regions to improve productivity in coming times.

Forests are one of the major sources of livelihood that need to be conserved. In India, there have been continuous efforts to evolve a scientific basis for sustainable management of forests. In recent century, this has primarily been addressed through “forest management plans,” also known as “working plans.” To make the plans uniform for each of the forest management units, guidelines have been issued by Government of India in the name of “working plan code,”which are revised periodically to match present days’ requirement. A working plan largely deals with the present state of the forest, outcomes of past management, and proposal of future management on a scientific basis. With a significant lapse of time, the role of forests has been recognized beyond mere supply of timber (a major resource) to fulfilling the demands of minor resources and ecological services. This has transformed the basis of forest management and the working plans. With reference to India, we discuss the relevance of working plan for sustainable management of forests; highlights of the most recent working plan code (2014); relevance of the code with reference to climate change and biodiversity, future perspectives, and recommendations for better management of the forests.