title: Agroforestry: a sustainable environmental practice for carbon sequestration under the climate change scenarios-a review.
abstract: Agroforestry is a sustainable land use system with a promising potential to sequester atmospheric carbon into soil. This system of land use distinguishes itself from the other systems, such as sole crop cultivation and afforestation on croplands only through its potential to sequester higher amounts of carbon (in the above- and belowground tree biomass) than the aforementioned two systems. According to Kyoto protocol, agroforestry is recognized as an afforestation activity that, in addition to sequestering carbon dioxide (CO2) to soil, conserves biodiversity, protects cropland, works as a windbreak, and provides food and feed to human and livestock, pollen for honey bees, wood for fuel, and timber for shelters construction. Agroforestry is more attractive as a land use practice for the farming community worldwide instead of cropland and forestland management systems. This practice is a win-win situation for the farming community and for the environmental sustainability. This review presents agroforestry potential to counter the increasing concentration of atmospheric CO2by sequestering it in above- and belowground biomass. The role of agroforestry in climate change mitigation worldwide might be recognized to its full potential by overcoming various financial, technical, and institutional barriers. Carbon sequestration in soil by various agricultural systems can be simulated by various models but literature lacks reports on validated models to quantify the agroforestry potential for carbon sequestration.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Government College University, Faisalabad, 38000, Pakistan. farhat@gcuf.edu.pk.
authors.forename: Farhat
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Abbas
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Vehari, 61100, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Hafiz Mohkum
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Hammad
authors.affiliation: College of Plant Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei, China. fahad80@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Shah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fahad
authors.affiliation: Departament de Geografia, Universitat de València, Blasco Ibàñez, 28, 46010, Valencia, Spain.
authors.forename: Artemi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cerdà
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Government College University, Faisalabad, 38000, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Muhammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rizwan
authors.affiliation: Department of Agronomy, Lasbela University of Agriculture, Water and Marine Sciences, Uthal, 90150, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Wajid
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Farhad
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Government College University, Faisalabad, 38000, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Sana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ehsan
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Vehari, 61100, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Hafiz Faiq
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Bakhat
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D002244:Carbon; D057965:Carbon Sequestration; D057231:Climate Change; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D016468:Forestry; D012987:Soil; D014197:Trees
chemical_list: D012987:Soil; D002244:Carbon
keywords: Climate variability; Environmental sustainability; Forest; Land use management; Model; Soil