Suitability Assessment and Carbon Mitigation Potential of Plantations on India’s Railway Land

Abstract

India has one of the largest railway networks in the world, it is proposed that some of its lands could be utilized for tree plantation and carbon sequestration activities. In this study, we make an effort to estimate the potential land available for carrying out plantation activities on Indian railways land and further estimate the carbon mitigation potential from these activities. Two land options are considered for plantation activities, (a) Plantations along Railway Tracks (along the route length) and (b) Plantations around railway sidings. The available land along the railway tracks is derived by systematically eliminating the land parcels that are non-suitable using high-resolution satellite data. We eliminated lands that are either already forested or already having tree cover. Uncultivable wastelands (open barren lands) and railway lines passing through water bodies, bridges, railway station platforms, crossings, etc. are also eliminated. Our analysis suggests that a maximum of total potential area of about 56.5 thousand hectares may be available for plantation and other mitigation actions along railway tracks and railway sidings. We used the CO₂ fix model for simulating plot level carbon dynamics, the model is simulated for 35 years from 2015 to 2050. The model has been tested and validated for different forest ecosystems across the world in multiple studies. Plot-level simulations are carried out for each Agro-Ecological Zones (AEZs) as AEZs represent homogenous climatic, ecological, and edaphic units. Plot level mitigation estimates in each of the carbon pools are extrapolated for the available land area and considered for plantation activities in each of the Agro-ecological Zones. This study finds that Indian railways provide a modest mitigation potential (of about 5–25 MtCO₂ over 2015–2050, depending on combinations of the area considered for plantations and growth rates), compared to other options available in the Indian landuse change sector such as forest restoration and reclamation of wastelands via tree plantations.