Summary

In India, the growth and expansion of urban areas has been accompanied by the depletion of green spaces, water logging, and an amplified heat island effect (Singh et al., 2021). This trend is likely to continue as cities in India are expected to house nearly half the country’s population by 2030 (United Nations, 2019). Urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) has often been identified as a potential solution that counteracts the environmental impacts of urbanisation with positive effects on food production, air quality and other aspects of urban life. There is growing evidence that urban and peri-urban agriculture and forestry (UPAF) can potentially reduce vulnerability to climate change, improve energy supply by producing biomass, reduce land surface temperature, and increase evapotranspiration, thereby lowering temperatures through evaporative cooling (Mancebo, 2018).