Transformative trees : forests for water and food security
2025
Sheil, Douglas
Reliable food production relies on consistent water availability. The last two decades have provided a deeper understanding of the role of trees and forests in ensuring this water supply. In this chapter, I highlight the links between trees and water security, an indispensable element of food security. We now know that, in many contexts, trees can improve water access and reliability. Achieving the right densities of the right trees in the right places can increase soil water recharge and maintain dependable baseflow. On a larger scale, atmospheric processes are key, and expanding tree cover can render regions wetter and more productive, yielding more predictable rainfall through enhanced atmospheric moisture import and recycling. Opportunities and implications vary with local circumstances. While new insights raise new questions and research remains essential, existing knowledge can guide land-use policy, planning and practices. The large-scale relationships between tree cover and water cause significant threats if tree cover declines but offer substantial opportunities when forests are preserved and extended. Although forests and trees provide many valuable goods and services to local communities, economies and the planet, any alterations in tree cover can effect water availability, directly impacting food production. Can we boost water security and maximise the wider benefits of tree cover while increasing food production? This chapter emphasises that trees are neither a luxury consideration nor a minor footnote when we consider food security but rather a foundation for achieving it.
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