Urban sacred grove forests are potential carbon stores: A case study from Sikkim Himalaya

Urban forests function as lungs in the cities and help in providing a healthy environment to people by reducing warming and improving air & water quality. Information on the carbon storage and capture capacity of the urban forests especially sacred forests in India is limited. We estimated and examined the different carbon pools and sequestration potentials of two urban sacred forests i.e. Deorali Chorten monastery sacred forest (DMS) and Enchey monastery sacred forest (EMS) and tested its performance against a rural natural forest (STF). Carbon in trees was estimated allometrically from five plots of 31.6 × 31.6 m2 in each of the study sites using the Forest Survey of India's volume equations, wood density, and tree height. Thirty soil samples collected from three soil depths (0–15, 15–30, and 30–45 cm) from each of the study sites were colorimetrically estimated for soil carbon. Litter biomass collected from ten quadrats of 1 × 1m2 from each of the study sites was used for the estimation of litter carbon. Ecosystem carbon sequestration was calculated from the carbon stock values of each of the study sites by dividing by the corresponding age of sites. Tree carbon density varies significantly (p