Managing Forests for Water: A United Nations/IUFRO/Forest Service Managers Guide
Forests are often managed for timber, fuel, recreation, biodiversity, and food but seldom primarily for water. However, climate change and population change are increasing the pressure on forest water resources. A new guide jointly produced between the United Nations Food Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO), and the USDA Forest Service provides land managers with information for managing forests to maximize water quality, sustainability, and consistent flow.
Forests and trees are integral to the water cycle, playing a role in water quantity, quality, and timing as well as protective functions against soil and coastal erosion, flooding, and avalanches. However, only 12 percent of the world's forests are managed with soil and water protection as a primary objective. To address this lack of knowledge, a new guide has been co-published by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Union of Forest Research Organizations, the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, the United States Forest Service, and partners.
The guide is the first comprehensive global publication providing a holistic approach to the management, monitoring, and valuation of forests to deliver water-related ecosystem services. This guidance is needed to ensure forests fulfill their potential as a nature-based solution to address water security, helping ensure sufficient quality water to sustain resilient communities and ecosystems. The guide is aimed at practitioners to uphold and actively manage forests and engage the community, policy makers, and investors in this commitment. The guide reviews emerging techniques and methodologies, provides practical guidance and recommendations on managing forests for water ecosystem services, and features case studies from forest ecosystems where forest and water resources are strongly connected such as mangroves, peatland, drylands, and tropical montane cloud forests.
