New FAO-led report launched at World Water Week provides
guidance on integrated forest-water management

Forests and trees play a vital role in meeting the world's
increasing demand for water and need to be managed for water-related ecosystem
services, according to a new guide co-published by the UN's Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Union of Forest Research
Organizations (IUFRO), the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission,
the United States Forest Service and partners, and launched today at World Water Week.

A Guide to Forest-Water Management is the first
comprehensive global publication to provide guidance on the contribution of
forests for a holistic approach to water resource management, including the
management, monitoring and valuation of forests to deliver water-related
ecosystem services.

Forested watersheds contribute substantially to the world's
accessible freshwater for agricultural, industrial, environmental, and domestic
uses, with the world's major cities increasingly reliant on water from forested
watersheds. Two-thirds of urban water supplies would benefit from increased
water quality with improved forest management, such as protection, restoration
and/or reducing forest fuel loads to minimize fire risk.

"Water security is a significant global challenge, with
repercussions for agriculture, energy production, people's basic needs and our
supporting ecosystems," said FAO Deputy Director-General Maria Helena
Semedo. "The twin challenges of climate change and a growing population
are increasing pressure on our ecosystems. We need to recognize that forests
play a key role in water security and prioritize water in forest management and
governance decisions," she continued.

Accessible freshwater

The forest and water
connection is essential to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development, especially Goals 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), 14 (Life below
Water), 15 (Life on Land) and 13 (Climate Action).

Forests and trees are integral to the water cycle. They also
play significant roles in regulating water quantity, quality and timing and
provide protective functions against soil and coastal erosion, flooding and
avalanches, collectively known as water-related ecosystem services.

According to FAO's
Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020, only 12 percent of the world's
forests are managed with soil and water protection as a primary objective.

The guide calls for enhanced forest management that
prioritizes the provision of water-related ecosystem services. This is needed
to ensure forests also fulfill their potential as a nature-based solution to
address water security, helping ensure sufficient quality water to sustain
resilient communities and ecosystems.

"We are convinced that the valuation of ecosystem
services is the starting point for managing forests and all the benefits they
provide," said Shirong Liu, IUFRO Vice President and Deputy Coordinator of
the IUFRO Task Force on Forests and Water Interactions in a
Changing Environment.

Practical guidance

The new guide is aimed at natural resources practitioners
with the goal of upholding and actively managing forests for the provision of
water services and engaging the community, policy makers and investors in this
commitment.

The guide reviews emerging techniques and
methodologies, provides practical guidance and
recommendations on how to manage forests for water ecosystem services, and features
case studies from ecosystems where the two resources are strongly connected,
such as mangroves, peatland, drylands and tropical montane cloud forest.

The publication also suggests that citizen science - public
participation in scientific research and monitoring - as well as new online
tools can help improve forest-water assessment and in turn beneficially
influence policy and management decisions. In particular, FAO's System for Earth Observation Data
Access, Processing and Analysis for Land Monitoring (SEPAL), which is based
on user-friendly image-processing technologies, and its Forest
and Landscape Water Ecosystem Services (FL-WES) tools are highlighted
as new ways of monitoring and reporting on the forest-water nexus. A mechanism
for benefit-sharing and cooperation between the forest and water sectors,
payments for watershed services (PWS), is also outlined.

Related to this report, FAO and the Stockholm International
Water Institute have produced an e-learning course, the
Forest and Water Nexus, also launched this week, to help people understand
the links between forests and water and how they translate these into benefits
for people and the planet.

These new products add to FAO's vast collection of guidance
and tools on water resource management.

http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/1434541/icode/