Forests are now widely known for their capacity to store carbon and help mitigate the effects of climate change. But it is only relatively recently that recognition has grown of the vital role they also play in providing water that the world depends upon.

So how should forests be managed in order to protect and maximise the ‘water services’ they provide?

A series of webinars in coming months - organized jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) – distils the latest knowledge on forest-water management into three 1.5-hour interactive sessions (21 September, 19 October and 16 November 2023)  and provides a rare chance for practitioners and researchers to discuss turning the theory into practice. 

The sessions - open to professionals in land, forest and water management or forest projects and to scientists and organizations specialising in forests and water – are based on the findings of a series of papers written by IUFRO experts and published in Forest Ecology and Management.

The first two sessions will focus on techniques for protecting forest water functions in the context of increasing forest disturbance and climate change and the final session will consider practical tools for planning and decision-making. Below you will find more information on the sessions and the link to register for each webinar. 

The aim is to equip a wide range of professionals with the knowledge they need to integrate forest-water considerations into their work.

FAO is the leading UN organization working on forest and water issues and water-related forest management practices which are key for water and food security in a changing climate. FAO and IUFRO, have a long history of collaboration on forest and water issues. In 2021, together with the U. S. Department of Agriculture, they published “A guide to forest-water management”, the first comprehensive global publication on the monitoring, management and valuation of forest–water interactions.

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Descriptions and recordings

Webinar 1: Forest Management Practices for Protection of Hydrological Functions

This webinar has passed. The recording will be posted here. 

This webinar focused on key forest management practices including thinning, harvesting and restoration, summarizing their hydrological impacts, and discussing how forest operations and planning can be designed and improved to protect hydrological functions, especially in the context of increased forest disturbance around the globe.    

Speakers: Dr. Julia Jones – Oregon State University, Dr. Antonio del Campo – Universitat Politecnica de Valencia and Dr. Adam Wei – University of British Columbia (Okanagan).

Webinar 2:  Forest-Water Management under Climate Change

This webinar has passed. The recording will be posted here. 

This webinar focused on forest-water management under climate change, summarizing how climate, forest changes due to disturbance, or reforestation and their interactions may affect water quality, water use efficiency and various other hydrological functions, and discussing management strategies for water protection and climate change adaptation. 

Speakers: Dr. Shirong Liu – Chinese Academy of Forestry, Dr. Mingfang Zhang – University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Dr. Nadeem Shah – Forest Research UK, Dr. Zhiqiang Zhang and Dr. Lu Zhang – Beijing Forestry University.

Webinar 3: Practical Tools for Managing Forest-Water Nexus

This webinar has passed. The recording will be posted here. 

Resource managers require effective tools to support their planning and decision-making processes in managing the forest-water relationship. In this webinar, we will synthesize hydrological modelling tools which can be used to address various watershed management challenges. We will also discuss some emerging tools such as Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) and hydrological sensitivity (HS) in supporting management of the forest-water nexus. 

Speakers:  Dr. Heidi Asbjornsen – University of New Hampshire, Dr. Yanhui Wang – Chinese Academy of Forestry, Dr. Ge Sun – USDA Forest Service and Yiping Hou – University of British Columbia (Okanagan).

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For questions, please contact [email protected]

For more information on the IUFRO Task Force on Forests and water interactions in a changing environment please visit their website here.