Carbon Sequestration in Sacred Groves of Jammu District, J and K

Sacred groves are known as Bani in J and K. Since time immemorial these are virgin patches of trees or forest which are preserved in the name of social or religious beliefs and act as sites of biodiversity conservation. These sacred places provide different types of services like religious, ecological, social, aesthetic, etc. Carbon storage is one of the most significant ecosystem services provided by sacred groves and these carbon estimation studies are very important for UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change). The present paper studied about the carbon and carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2eq) estimation potential of the sacred groves and Willingness to Pay (WTP) by the local people for their conservation. With the help of non - destructive methodology total biomass and carbon were calculated and WTP was recorded using questionnaire. A total of 60 sacred groves were reported from the study area with 71 tree species. Ficus religiosa tree species was found to be the most dominant having carbon value of 100.6 t ha - 1 and CO2eq value of 369.3 t ha - 1. The total amount of carbon and CO2eq sequestrated by sacred groves is 362.8 t ha - 1 and 1331.4 t ha - 1. The WTP responses shows that people?s attitude towards conservation depends on many factors like age, education, gender, income, etc.