Year of publication 2005

Every year large-scale floods in the Asian lowlands affect the personal and economic fortunes of millions of people. To many people involved in developing disaster-reduction strategies and flood-mitigation management, it appears that the intensity of floods has increased in the region in recent decades. A common - and perhaps understandable reaction - is to blame the mismanagement of Asia’s uplands and the clearing of forests in important mountainous watersheds for the misery brought to the lowlands. To a large extent, conventional wisdom - which is sometimes more fiction than fact - about the benefits of forests has clouded the perspectives of decisionmakers, leading to an over-emphasis on reforestation and forest protection at the expense of more holistic watershed and river-basin management. This booklet aims to separate fact from fiction on issues related to forests and water and to dispel some of the commonly held misconceptions about the role of forests in flood mitigation. It does not pretend to provide an exhaustive overview on the subject; rather, it aims to brief policy-makers, development agencies and the media, and so constructively contribute to the development of sound watershed and river-basin management, and flood-mitigation policies, for the region.