Study of the Impact of land use change on c dynamics in dry tropics

Abstract

Land use change not only has impact on climate change but also on the dynamics newlineof soil organic matter, biodiversity, the change in ecosystem services in general newlineand specifically the tropical soils since they are nutrient limited and highly newlineweathered. The degradation rate of natural tropical forest, that covers 7% of the newlineearth surface, is approximatly 15.4 million ha y-1 in the tropics. Excessive newlineharvesting for timber and/or non timber forest products, cattle grazing and newlinechanges in land use pattern, are the major determinants of land degradation that newlinein turn, not only changes the soil quality and vegetation pattern but also severely newlinedelays or even totally inhibit restoration of the natural forest. Degraded forest newlinebecomes entirely different from the natural forests both in terms of soil quality newlineand the vegetation cover. The cultivation of natural forests for raising crops is newlinevery common in the dry tropics owing to excessive pressure of population rise. newlineAgroecosystems are being manipulated by anthropogenic inputs to maximize the newlinecrop yields, and considered one of the major causes of land use change. Serious newlineconcerns have been raised for the restoration of degraded forests, which itself is a newlinegreat challenge. Any restoration strategy is considered successful if it fulfills not newlineonly the environmental but also the social and economic sustainability. Among newlinethe several strategies, biofuel plantation is considered the ideal measure for newlinerestoration of degraded lands. Although lot of studies concerned the economic newlineaspects of biofuel production, little information is available on its role in the newlinerestoration of degraded lands, especially in the dry tropics. newline