Forest Service Contributes to Global Forest and Water Assessment for United Nations
More than 50 internationally recognized scientists from 20 nations developed a report that presents the current state of knowledge on the relationships between forests and water across the planet. The report was released on July 10 in New York at the 2018 United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development and is intended to inform policymakers and stakeholders in their efforts to support sustainable development and ensure access to clean water for all people around the world.
A newly published report presents the current state of knowledge on the
relationships between forests and water across the planet. Eastern Forest
Environmental Threat Assessment Center research ecologist and USDA Southeast
Climate Hub Director Steven McNulty is among the report’s lead authors who
assessed global forests’ capacity for supplying water resources amid increasing
water demands and climate change and variability. Additionally, the report
examines how adaptation, mitigation, and governance could be used to more
equitably share and use forest water resources. McNulty was a co-lead in five
chapters in the eight-chapter report and co-coordinated the report’s chapter on
determinants of the forest-water relationship, which highlights global trends
within an interconnected social-ecological system. The chapter also discusses
the factors driving changes to this system—including precipitation and air
temperature, atmospheric chemistry influenced by air pollution, human-caused
land use and land cover shifts, and increasing human populations and
urbanization—that ultimately impact water quantity and quality at various
scales and timeframes. The report, “Forest and Water on a Changing Planet:
Vulnerability, Adaptation and Governance Opportunities,” was prepared by
members of the Global Forest Expert Panel on Forests and Water—an initiative of
the Collaborative Partnership on Forests led by the International Union of
Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO). McNulty is an IUFRO deputy-coordinator who
served as a panel member with the
scientists who developed the report.
Pictured: More than 50 internationally recognized scientists from 20 nations collaborated to develop “Forest and Water on a Changing Planet: Vulnerability, Adaptation and Governance Opportunities.”
Related links:
- Forest and Water on a Changing Planet: Vulnerability, Adaptation and
Governance Opportunities (full report)
- Forest and Water on a Changing Planet: Vulnerability, Adaptation and
Governance Opportunities (policy briefing)
External Partners/Collaborators: Collaborative Partnership on Forests led by the International Union of
Forest Research Organizations
Contact: Steven McNulty, Director, USDA Southeast Climate Hub, steve.mcnulty@usda.gov
