ABSTRACT
Various anthropogenic activities lead to an increase in the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere with a very little information about its sinks. The identification of vegetation carbon biomass in tropical regions has garnered considerable interest from REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and enhancing carbon stocks), which seeks to preserve and boost the carbon sink in the forests of developing nations. Primarily the carbon sequesters consist of above-ground biomass, below-ground biomass, and dead biomass with the stand development. There are various methods to estimate the biomass content of trees. Some authors have developed site-specific models to avoid the destructive sampling of trees in the estimation of above-ground biomass. However, detailed information on the methods used to calculate the above-ground biomass in India is lacking. In this chapter, an attempt has been made to compile various methods used for estimating the above-ground biomass in different zonal councils of India and the advantages and limitations of the commonly used methods like non-destructive method, destructive method, and remote sensing or satellite method. Based on the review of recent publications (107 articles), it has been observed that the highest percentage (51%) for the measurement of biomass in India is covered through a non-destructive method.
