Contents 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Research Problem 2 1.2 Need of the Study 3 1.3 Aim 4 1.4 Research Question 4 1.5 Research Objectives 5 1.6 Scope and Limitations 5 1.6.1 Scope 5 1.6.2 Limitations 5 1.7 Methodological Framework 6 1.8 Chapter Outline 8 2 Literature Review 10 2.1 Forest, Growing Stock, and Climate Change 10 2.2 Forest Cover of India and its Urban Areas 11 2.3 Forest Cover of Gujarat and its Urban Areas 11 2.4 International and National Green Cover Norms for Urban Areas 13 2.5 Status of Tree cover and Diversity in the Study Area 14 2.6 Carbon Storage and Sequestration 15 2.7 Social Forestry Initiatives in India and Gujarat 16 2.8 Ecosystem Services and Economic Valuation of Green Cover 18 3 Study Area Profile 19 3.1 Introduction 19 3.2 History of Urban Development Authorities 20 3.3 Geography, Topography, and Climate 21 3.3.1 Topography 22 3.3.2 Climate 22 3.4 Urbanisation and Forest Land Diversion 25 3.5 Socio-Economic Base 29 3.6 Land-use Pattern 31 3.7 Natural and Manmade Parks and Forest Areas 32 3.7.1 Natural Resources 32 3.7.2 Man-made Resources 33 3.8 Status of Urban Biodiversity in the Study Area 34 3.9 Rationale behind the Choice of Eight Urban Development Authorities 34 4 Research Methodology and Data Processing 35 4.1 Status and Calculation of Carbon storage by Urban Tree Cover 35 4.1.1 Population of Trees in the Urban Development Authorities 35 4.2.2 Categorization into Age Classes 35 4.1.3 Assessing Percentage Area and Occupancy of Urban Tree Cover 36 4.1.4 Percentage Achievable Area under Unban Tree Cover 36 4.1.5 Carbon Stock Calculation by IPCC Default Method 37 4.2 Mapping the Extent of Urban Forest and Tree cover in GIS domain 38 4.2.1 Geo-Spatial Data used and their Sources 38 4.2.2 Processing Imageries and Database 38 4.2.3 Generation of NDVI Maps 39 4.2.4 Generation of Elevation Maps 40 4.2.5 Visual Interpretation of Maps Generated 40 4.3 Urban Green Cover enhancement through Regulations 41 4.3.1 Guidelines for Tree and Green cover 41 4.3.2 Institutes, Organizations, and Stakeholders 41 4.3.3 Past and On-going Projects 43 4.3.4 Project Funding 45 4.3.5 Ecological Valuation of Forest and Land Diversion 46 5 Findings and Discussion 47 5.1 Change in Urban Tree Cover through Suggested Interventions 47 5.2 Carbon Storage Potential through suggested Enhanced Green Cove 60 5.3 Future Land requirements for the Suggested Enhanced Green Cover 61 5.4 Association between Green Cover and Urban Biodiversity 62 5.5 Problems and Constraints 66 6 Recommendations and Conclusion 68 6.1 Roadmap for improving Tree Cover 68 6.2 Identification of Priority Plant species for Plantation 71 6.3 Ecosystem Services through Enhanced Green Cover 73 6.3.1 Conservative Value of Carbon Stored 73 6.3.2 Financial Returns 74 6.3.3 Purification of Air 75 6.4 Government Schemes and Policies 76 6.5 Funding and Implementation Mechanism 77 6.6 Case Studies of Model Green Developmental Authority Planning 79 6.7 Conclusion 81 7 References 83