Many people worldwide lack adequate access to clean water to meet basic needs, and many important economic activities, such as energy production and agriculture, also require water. Climate change is likely to aggravate water stress. As temperatures rise, ecosystems and the human, plant, and animal communities that depend on them will need more water to maintain their health and to thrive. Forests and trees are integral to the global water cycle and therefore vital for water security – they regulate water quantity, quality, and timing and provide protective functions against (for example) soil and coastal erosion, flooding, and avalanches. Forested watersheds provide 75 percent of our freshwater, delivering water to over half the world’s population. The purpose of A Guide to Forest–Water Management is to improve the global information base on the protective functions of forests for soil and water. It reviews emerging techniques and methodologies, provides guidance and recommendations on how to manage forests for their water ecosystem services, and offers insights into the business and economic cases for managing forests for water ecosystem services. Intact native forests and well-managed planted forests can be a relatively cheap approach to water management while generating multiple co-benefits. Water security is a significant global challenge, but this paper argues that water-centered forests can provide nature-based solutions to ensuring global water resilience.

Although a few texts on forest hydrology are available, they cover very little, if any, background on water resources. On the other hand, books dealing with water resources do not cover topics on forest-water relations. The one exception to this is Forest Hydrology: An Introduction to Water and Forests. Now with the publication of a revised edition, this volume adds information from recent studies to go even further in providing an introduction to forest hydrology that brings water resources and forest-water relations into a single practical and comprehensive volume Focusing on processes and general principles, the first six chapters provide an introduction and basic background in water and water resources, while the last seven chapters look at the impact of forests on water. Between these two groupings is a chapter that serves as an entry to the study of forest impacts on water resources, describing forests and forest characteristics important to water circulation, sediment movement, and stream habitat. This second edition also features new information on forests and flooding, forest and stream habitat, snow vaporization processes, and GIS methods in hydrology research, examples on evaporation estimates, and a new appendix on forest interception measurements. Employing examples and case studies, the book provides tools to help natural resource managers play an active role in policymaking and land-use planning, and in developing partnerships with stakeholders. It also offers unique perspectives for addressing urban sprawl.

This work advises owners and managers how woodlands and forests influence the freshwater ecosystem, and gives guidance on how operations should be carried out in order to protect and enhance the water environment. The guidelines apply equally to forest enterprises and the private sector.

Forests, Water and People in the Humid Tropics is the most comprehensive review available of the hydrological and physiological functioning of tropical rain forests, the environmental impacts of their disturbance and conversion to other land uses, and optimum strategies for managing them. The book brings together leading specialists in such diverse fields as tropical anthropology and human geography, environmental economics, climatology and meteorology, hydrology, geomorphology, plant and aquatic ecology, forestry and conservation agronomy. The editors have supplemented the individual contributions with invaluable overviews of the main sections and provide key pointers for future research. Specialists will find authenticated detail in chapters written by experts on a whole range of people-water-land use issues, managers and practitioners will learn more about the implications of ongoing and planned forest conversion, while scientists and students will appreciate a unique review of the literature.