Trees, forests and water: Cool insights for a hot world
2017
Ellison, David | Morris, Cindy E. | Locatelli, Bruno, D | Sheil, Douglas | Cohen, Jane | Murdiyarso, Daniel | Gutierrez, Victoria | Noordwijk, Meine Van | Creed, Irena F. | Pokorny, Jan | Gaveau, David | Spracklen, Dominick V. | Tobella, Aida Bargués | Ilstedt, Ulrik | Teuling, Adriaan J. | Gebrehiwot, Solomon Gebreyohannis | Sands, David, C. | Muys, Bart | Verbist, Bruno | Springgay, Elaine | Sugandi, Yulia | Sullivan, Caroline A. | Department of Forest Ecology and Management ; Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences = Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet (SLU) | Ellison Consulting | Unité de Pathologie Végétale (PV) ; Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) | Department Plant Sciences and Plant Pathology [Bozeman] ; Montana State University (MSU) | Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad) | Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) ; Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research [CGIAR] (CGIAR) | Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) | University of Texas at Austin [Austin] | Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) | WeForest | World Agroforestry Center [CGIAR, Kenya] (ICRAF) ; Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research [CGIAR] (CGIAR) | Wageningen University and Research [Wageningen] (WUR) | University of Western Ontario (UWO) | ENKI, o.p.s. | University of Leeds | Department of Earth Sciences [Uppsala] ; Uppsala University | Addis Ababa University (AAU) | Catholic University of Leuven = Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven) | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations [Rome, Italie] (FAO) | Southern Cross University (SCU) | CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (CRP-FTA); Australian Research Council fund LP130100498; ENKI and the Belgian Development Cooperation through VLIR-UOS
Forest-driven water and energy cycles are poorly integrated into regional, national, continental and global decision-making on climate change adaptation, mitigation, land use and water management. This constrains humanity’s ability to protect our planet’s climate and life-sustaining functions. The substantial body of research we review reveals that forest, water and energy interactions provide the foundations for carbon storage, for cooling terrestrial surfaces and for distributing water resources. Forests and trees must be recognized as prime regulators within the water, energy and carbon cycles. If these functions are ignored, planners will be unable to assess, adapt to or mitigate the impacts of changing land cover and climate. Our call to action targets a reversal of paradigms, from a carbon-centric model to one that treats the hydrologic and climate-cooling effects of trees and forests as the first order of priority. For reasons of sustainability, carbon storage must remain a secondary, though valuable, by-product. The effects of tree cover on climate at local, regional and continental scales offer benefits that demand wider recognition. The forest- and tree-centered research insights we review and analyze provide a knowledge-base for improving plans, policies and actions. Our understanding of how trees and forests influence water, energy and carbon cycles has important implications, both for the structure of planning, management and governance institutions, as well as for how trees and forests might be used to improve sustainability, adaptation and mitigation efforts.
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