Water sensitive forest management

The implementation of this adaptation option requires the involvement of various actors (river managers, farmers, forest services, policy-makers, private owners, etc.) who should be involved to make the adoption of the adaptation option feasible. Stakeholders also have a crucial role for the management of the implemented measures. Information campaigns, and other specific activities, about the role of wetlands and forests as water suppliers should be promoted to raise awareness among the different stakeholders in the whole watershed (national authorities, the public and the private sector).  

A key challenge for land, forest and water managers is maximizing the wide range of forest benefits without detriment to water resources and ecosystem function. To address this challenge, there is urgent need for better understanding of the interactions between forests/trees and water (particularly in watersheds), for awareness raising and capacity building in forest hydrology, and for embedding this knowledge and research findings in policies and actions. The benefit to upstream and downstream populations should be also publicised, so that the forest management options will be recognized as essential and accepted. There is also need to develop institutional mechanisms to enhance synergies in forests and water issues, and to implement and enforce national and regional action programmes. 

Costs are a potential limitation of adapting management rules in silviculture to improve the tree water balance. Market-based arrangements are a way for upstream land users to recover the costs of maintaining forest cover, and a way of funding other land management practices to protect watershed services. Especially on private land, incentives are required to guarantee forest conservation. Though the vast majority of experiences have been outside of Europe, market-based approaches in which payments are contingent on achieving desired outcomes (e.g. Payment for Environmental Services, PES) can lead to more efficient resource allocation and more cost-effective solutions. They are recognized as incentives to regulate and maintain forests services. The new EU Forest Strategy specifically encourage member states, as relevant to their national circumstances, to set up a payment scheme for ecosystem services for forest owners and managers. PES initiatives take various forms depending on the characteristics of the service, the scale of the ecosystem processes producing them, and the socioeconomic and institutional context. They range from informal, community-based initiatives, through more formal, voluntary contractual arrangements between individual parties, to complex arrangements among multiple parties facilitated by intermediary organizations.  

Property rights also play an important role in economic incentives because they define who has access to benefits and who has responsibility for the costs of delivering those benefits. If the distribution of costs and benefits is not perceived as equitable, and if significant stakeholders are excluded or disadvantaged, they will have little incentive to cooperate. For example, without clear land title, upper watershed land users lack the authority to enter into contractual agreements and are thus unable to benefit from payments. 

However, demonstrating and quantifying the actual benefits of the forest management options to those who are asked to pay for them is quite challenging. This requires an understanding of complex ecosystem processes, over time in specific places, the identification of effective management actions to maintain these, and reasonable assurance that buyers will have access to benefits in the future. Finding the most efficient and effective approaches also requires the capacity to learn and adjust to new information.

Forests are serving multiple functions and providing several ecosystem services, including those related to water management, as: 

• conservation and provision of freshwater for diverse human uses; 
• flow regulation and filtration, which help to maintain base or dry-season flow, allow the recharge of water stored in soil, groundwater, wetlands and floodplains, and control the level of groundwater tables.  

• Control of water runoff, preventing extreme run‑offs, thus reducing damage from flooding 
• trapping of pollutants and sediments that affect water quality; 
• maintenance of habitat diversity and ecosystem resilience;  
• conservation of cultural values, including aesthetic qualities that support tourism, recreation and traditional ways of living.  

Moreover, management measures that safeguard the water related functionalities of forests can save the costs associated with water treatment for different uses. Indeed, it is recognized that water from forest sites require less treatments than water from other water polluting sectors (Miettinen, 2020). For every 10% increase in watershed forest cover, water treatment costs decrease approximately by 20%, up to about 60% forest cover (Centre for Watershed Protection – Forest and Drinking Water). Treatment costs level off when forest cover is between 70 and 100%. Cost saving evaluations can vary from site to site and need specific studies supporting the design of cost-effective policies. 

The new EU Forest Strategy, published at the end of 2021, aims to improve the quantity and quality of EU forests and strengthen their protection, restoration and resilience. This will increase the forests potential in providing several ecological and socio-economic services, including those related to the forest – water nexus. In addition, the recent adopted EU 2030 Biodiversity Strategy includes among its objectives restoring degraded European ecosystems by planting at least 3 billion additional trees by 2030, which will enhance the forest cover across Europe. 

The main EU funding source for forestry measures is the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and in particular its “second pillar” Rural Development Programme. Within the reformed CAP post 2020, Member States are able, through their national strategic plans, to encourage forest managers to maintain, grow and manage forests in a sustainable way. The Water Framework Directive requires the Member States to prepare River Basin Management Plans including Programmes of Measures (PoMs) for each River Basin District. Measures within the PoMs are directly linked with measures under axis 2 of the Rural Development Programme and other EU policies related to forest issues, such as EU Forestry Action Plan (FAP), Natura 2000 and the Biomass Action Plan (BAP). 

The implementation time of this option is highly variable, because it depends on what measures are undertaken to protect and restore forests and their ecosystem services. The implementation time of some measures may be very short but may also require proper maintenance in the long-term period. Moreover, the full recovery of water quality and quantity after forest restoration can require many years (more than 25 years).  

Endless if the management scheme is maintained and adapted