Jammu Kashmir has the second-highest carbon reserves in the country after Andaman and Nicobar Islands, according to a report published by the Indian Government’s NITI Aayog.
Carbon reserves is the amount of carbon that has been sequestered from the atmosphere and is now stored within the forest ecosystem, mainly within living biomass and soil, and to a lesser extent also in deadwood and litter.
In its report titled `State Energy and Climate Index’, NITI Aayog has revealed that Jammu Kashmir has 94.5 tonnes of carbon stock per hectare of forest land while the emission intensity of Carbon in Jammu Kashmir forests is 98.2 tonnes per hectare.
The report also revealed that the increase in the forest cover from 21,358 sq. km in 2019 to 21,387 sq KM in 2021, has led to the improvement in the Carbon reserves in Jammu Kashmir.
In 2020, Jammu Kashmir became the first Union Territory (UT) or State in the country to convert its Forest Corporation into a registered, public sector undertaking with a share capital of ₹10 crores.
G.C. Murmu, the then LG of the region has sanctioned the creation of the J&K Forest Development Corporation (JKFDC) as a registered company to replace the J&K State Forest Corporation (JKSFC) after the passage of the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2020, that created bifurcated Jammu Kashmir.
“All the shares except two shall be held by the Lieutenant Governor. One share each shall be held by the Administrative Secretary of the Department of Forest, Ecology, and Environment and the Administrative Secretary of the Finance Department,” the order of the Jammu Kashmir admin said.