Severe decline in large agroforestry trees in India over the past decade

Abstract Agroforestry trees represent a vital part of India's landscapes, however, despite their significance, a current lack of robust monitoring mechanisms has contributed to an insufficient grasp of their distribution in relation to management practices, as well as their vulnerability to climate change and diseases. Here we map all agroforestry trees, excluding block plantations, in India for each year 2010/2011 and 2018-2022. We reveal a count of about 0.6 billion trees, and track each tree crown over the past decade. Around 11±2% of the large trees (about 96 m2 crown size) mapped in 2010/2011 were disappeared by 2018. Moreover, during the period 2018-2022, more than 5 million large farmland trees (about 67 m2 crown size) have vanished, partly due to altered cultivation practices, where trees within fields are perceived as detrimental to crop yields. These observations are particularly unsettling given the current emphasis on agroforestry as a pivotal natural climate solution, playing a crucial role in both climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies.