Large scale land use transition for maximizing the benefits to meet the rising demands for food and other ecosystem services for t he well being of the societies has been the main problem confronting sustainable development in the mountain areas. Agroforestry is one of the favoured land management systems in the moun tains. This paper analyses the role of traditional large cardamom ( Amomum subulatum ) agroforestry system on enhancing the ecosystem services in the Eastern Himalayas. The la rge cardamom based agroforestry system is observed to accelerate the nutrient cycling, inc reases the soil fertility and productivity, reduces soil erosion, conserves biodiversity, conse rves water and soil, serves as carbon sink, improves the living standards of the communities by increasing the farm incomes and also provides aesthetic values for the mountain societie s. The cardamom agroforestry stored 3.5 times more carbon than the rainfed agriculture show ing potential mitigation possibilities of the agroforestry by sequestration of the atmospheric ca rbon. The agroforestry is an efficient management system where ratio of output to input is more than 13 compared to rainfed agriculture. Cost benefit analysis showed that the cardamom agroforestry is profiting the farmers by 5.7 times more compared to the rainfed a griculture. This agroforestry system is a unique example of the ecological sustenance and eco nomic viability for the mountain peoples while providing goods and services to the downstrea m users. In the large scale land use change role of the cardamom agroforestry seems quite promi sing for ecological and economic sustainability