India, March 21 -- While increasing CO2 levels can initially boost photosynthesis, the warming sun acts like a cruel twist, hindering enzymes crucial for the process

Indian forests are facing a silent crisis. Rising temperatures, erratic rainfall and deforestation are weakening their ability to absorb carbon dioxide (CO2), a vital role in combating global warming. This poses a major threat to the country's ambitious climate goal of creating "an additional carbon sink of 2.5-3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030", as per its Nationally Determined Contributions, updated in August 2022.

Currently, forests in the country store 26,145 billion tonnes of CO2. The heart of the issue lies in photosyn...