A review of the carbon sequestration potential of fruit trees and their implications for climate change mitigation: The case of Ethiopia

Abstract

Carbon sequestration is defined as the process of capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide. Fruit crops are indispensable both for climate change mitigation and ensuring food security. However, the impact of fruit trees is not adequately investigated. This review assesses the carbon sequestration potential of fruit trees and their implications for climate change mitigation. Fruit trees use photosynthesis to absorb CO₂ from the atmosphere and assimilate it into their cellulose, lowering atmospheric buildup. Horn of Africa is the most vulnerable region for climate change, and Ethiopia is also facing unpredictable weather, which brings sporadic floods and droughts that harm the agricultural sectors. Dramatic rise of CO₂ from 280 ppm in 1850 to 420.2 ± 0.5 ppm in 2023 is reported to link with human activity. In most Ethiopian farms, multipurpose fruit trees are rarely cultivated, and the only experience is planting trees in the homestead areas. Even though fruit trees have an enormous potential to store carbon, the destruction of those trees is also results greenhouse gas. Tree plants, including fruit trees, are thought to absorb 0.42 to 0.65 pentagrams of carbon per year. Above- and below-ground biomasses have been described to sink more than 40% of carbon. Agroforestry practices should adopt all fruit species on the basis of carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation in their growing stratum. Therefore, in order to oblige countries to adopt versatile fruit trees to meet food and nutrition security, carbon sequestration, and climate change mitigation efforts should have both political and economic sustainability.

Keywords:

• carbon pools
• carbon sequestration
• litter biomass
• soil carbon
• store carbon

PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT

Carbon sequestration is defined as the course of apprehending and storing atmospheric carbon-dioxide and it is an effective method to reduce the atmospheric carbon-dioxide. Climate change is a pressing issue in Ethiopia exacerbated by human activities such as fossil fuel consumption and deforestation. In Ethiopia, climate variability is highly affecting the environmental settings and causing for soil erosion, drought, desertification, biodiversity loss, flooding, and water pollution, and health risks. Multipurpose fruit trees are an important carbon pool used to store large amounts of carbon in their biomass (above and below ground biomass). Globally, versatile fruit trees are extensively used to sequester carbon from the atmosphere. In general, in addition to the forest trees, cultivation of multipurpose fruits is paramount to protect our environment. Therefore, fruits selection on the basis on their nutrition composition and role of carbon sequestration is imperative for the nations such as Ethiopia.

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge https://hindawi.writefull.ai/software.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Authors’ contribution

The concept of the study was developed by Yohannes Gelaye while the design, data analysis and synthesis, interpretation and drafting and final write-up of the paper were performed by both Yohannes Gelaye and Sewnet Getahun.

Availability of data and materials

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analyzed in this study.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/23311932.2023.2294544.

Additional information

Funding

This work was not supported by any funding.

Notes on contributors

Yohannes Gelaye

Yohannes Gelaye is a lecturer and researcher in the Department of Horticulture, College of Agriculture and Natural resources, Debre Markos University, Ethiopia. He did his Master’s degree in Horticulture at Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia. Since December 2014, Yohannes is working at Debre Markos University and teaching courses like Plant biotechnology, Plant propagation, Design and agricultural experimentation, Vegetable and fruit crops production and management, Ornamental horticulture, Plant physiology, Coffee production, processing and quality control, Crop protection, and Nutrition sensitive agriculture. His research interest is Biotechnology, Biochar in agriculture, Adapting to drought stress, Byproduct utilization, Climate change induced disease and pests, Drought induced physio-morphological, molecular and biochemical changes, Agro-nanotechnology, Artificial Intelligence, Crops and soil improvement, Postharvest science and technology, Food safety, and Nutrition, and food security.