This is a print on demand edition of a hard to find publication. Water from forested watersheds provides irreplaceable habitat for aquatic and riparian species and supports our homes, farms, industries, and energy production. Yet population pressures, land uses, and rapid climate change combine to seriously threaten these waters and the resilience of watersheds in most places. Forest land managers are expected to anticipate and respond to these threats and steward forested watersheds to ensure the sustained protection and provision of water and the services it provides. Contents of this report: (1) Intro.; (2) Background: Forests and Water; Climate Change: Hydrologic Responses and Ecosystem Services; (3) Moving Forward: Think; Collaborate; Act; (4) Closing; (5) Examples of Watershed Stewardship. Illus.

A Brookings Institution Press and Chatham House publication The global climate change problem has finally entered the world's consciousness. While efforts to find a solution have increased momentum, international attention has focused primarily on the industrial and energy sectors. The forest, and land-use sector, however, remains one of the most significant untapped opportunities for carbon mitigation. The expiration of the Kyoto Protocol's first commitment period in 2012 presents an opportunity for the international community to put this sector back on the agenda. In this timely, wide-ranging volume, an international team of experts explain the links between climate change and forests, highlighting the potential utility of this sector within emerging climate policy frameworks and carbon markets. After framing forestry activities within the larger context of climate-change policy, the contributors analyze the operation and efficacy of market-based mechanisms for forest conservation and climate change. Drawing on experiences from around the world, the authors present concrete recommendations for policymakers, project developers, and market participants. They discuss sequestration rights in Chile, carbon offset programs in Australia and New Zealand, and emerging policy incentives at all levels of the U.S. government. The book also explores the different voluntary schemes for carbon crediting, provides an overview of best practices in carbon accounting, and presents tools for use in future sequestration and offset programs. It concludes with consideration of various incentive options for slowing deforestation and protecting the world's remaining forests. Climate Change and Forests provides a realistic view of the role that the forest and land-use sector can play in a post-Kyoto regime. It will serve as a practical reference manual for anyone concerned about climate policy, including the negotiators working to define a robust and enduring international framework for addressing climate change.

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.

Tropical forests are an undervalued asset in meeting the greatest global challenges of our time—averting climate change and promoting development. Despite their importance, tropical forests and their ecosystems are being destroyed at a high and even increasing rate in most forest-rich countries. The good news is that the science, economics, and politics are aligned to support a major international effort over the next five years to reverse tropical deforestation. Why Forests? Why Now? synthesizes the latest evidence on the importance of tropical forests in a way that is accessible to anyone interested in climate change and development and to readers already familiar with the problem of deforestation. It makes the case to decisionmakers in rich countries that rewarding developing countries for protecting their forests is urgent, affordable, and achievable.

Forests cover 30% of the Earth’s land area, or nearly four billion hectares. Enhancing the benefits and ecosystem services of forests has been increasingly recognized as an essential part of nature-based solutions for solving many emerging global environmental problems today. A core science supporting forest management is understanding the interactions of forests, water, and people. These interactions have become increasingly complex under climate change and its associated impacts, such as the increases in the intensity and frequency of drought and floods, increasing population and deforestation, and a rise in global demands for multiple ecosystem services including clean water supply and carbon sequestration. Forest watershed managers have recognized that water management is an essential component of forest management. Global environmental change is posing more challenges for managing forests and water toward sustainable development. New science on forest and water is critically needed across the globe. The International Forests and Water Conference 2018, Valdivia, Chile (http://forestsandwater2018.cl/), a joint effort of the 5th IUFRO International Conference on Forests and Water in a Changing Environment and the Second Latin American Conference on Forests and Water provided a unique forum to examine forest and water issues in Latin America under a global context. This book represents a collection of some of the peer-reviewed papers presented at the conference that were published in a Special Issue of Forests.