Assessment of Status and Carbon Sequestration Potential of Green Cover in the Major Urban Development Authorities of Gujarat 1 Ravi N. Parmar CEPT University K.L. Campus, University Road Ahmedabad, Gujarat 07839317332 envoravi@gmail.com 2 Dr. H. S. Singh Retd. PCCF, Gujarat Biodiversity Board Gujarat Forest Department Gandhinagar, Gujarat 09978406188 hss.ifs@gmail.com Abstract Urban forest and tree cover play a fundamentally important role in improving the environmental quality, energy efficiency, aesthetic appeal, biodiversity, and regulating the climatic hazards. The study area encompasses the 8 major urban development authorities of Gujarat which has observed a population increase from 0.59 crore in 1981 to 1.66 crore in 2011, which is projected to increase to 2.01 crores as of 2021. The per capita CO2 emission was recorded to be 1.6 tons/annum in 2011 and is expected to rise to 2-2.5 tons/annum by 2021. The average rate of conversion of land in Gujarat for non-agricultural and non-forestry uses is about 4,000 ha per year leading to the severe defacement of the green cover. In this study, an assessment and evaluation of the area under the urban forest & tree cover and its respective carbon sequestration potential is done for the base year (2011) and an attempt is being made to calculate it for the year 2021 using the standard protocols. As of 2011, about 64.31 lakh trees of about 230 species above 10 cm girth at breast height was enumerated in the study area. The study highlights that the green cover inclusive city planning, stakeholder’s coordination, use of native tree species, compensatory afforestation mechanism, protection of the existing green areas, and employment generation through GIM and MNERGA schemes in the social and agro forestry schemes can enhance the overall green cover in the urban agglomerations of Gujarat. As a result, the total tree number in the study area can be increased from 64.13 lakhs (2011) to 143.7 lakhs (2021) and the carbon stock can be enhanced from 12.86 lakh tonnes of carbon in 2011 to 28.74 lakh tonnes till 2021. For achieving the desired targets, the land under the plantation has to be increased from 23,760 ha in 2011 to 55,158 ha till 2021. Hence, enhancing urban tree and forest cover can give plausible solutions to the infinite woes of socio- economic, ecological, and environmental sustainability of the urban areas of Gujarat. Keywords: Urban Green Cover, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Social Forestry, and Agro-forestry. 1. Introduction The rapid urbanization of cities in India has led to over exploitation of natural resources, exponential increase in pollution, and accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Carbon emission due to deforestation and use of fossil carbon has brought forests to the center- stage of climate change mitigation strategies. As per MoEF (2014), India has a spatial extent of the urban tree cover on 12,790 Km 2 (16.40 %) out of the total urbanized area of 77,997 Km 2 as on 2013. The National Forest Policy, 1988 envisions average forest and tree cover of 33 % for the plains and 66.66 % for the hilly areas of the country. About 7.48 % of the geographical area of Gujarat has been declared as forest which is much less than national forest cover of 21.23% (FSI, 2013). Average population density of Gujarat is about 308 people/Km 2 which is the root cause of resource depletion, environmental pollution, urban heat island effect, loss of forest & biodiversity, etc. There is an urgent need for the planned development of the urban areas to present the picture of green and clean cities with adequate forest & tree cover, parks, lakes, wetlands, urban biodiversity, nature education centers, etc. The selected 8 urban development authorities’ of Gujarat supports a population of 1.66 crore as of 2011 with the third highest urbanization rate after Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. As per the Arithmetic-Geometric method of Projection, it is estimated to increase to 20.18 crore by the year 2021. Investment patterns on infrastructure, employment, and civic amenities are the most crucial factors leading to the urbanization in the urban growth centers of Gujarat. As per Census data of 2011, the population of AUDA constitutes 10.77 % of the state’s population. Similarly, GUDA constitutes 0.37 %, SUDA constitutes 8.27 %, VUDA constitutes 3.45 %, RUDA constitutes 2.30 %, JADA constitutes 0.88 %, JUDA constitutes 0.53 %, and BADA constitutes 0.98 %. 3 Dr. Minal Pathak CEPT University K.L. Campus, University Road Ahmedabad, Gujarat 09898727697 minal.pathak@cept.ac.in