Reconciliation of research on forest carbon sequestration and water conservation

Abstract

Carbon sequestration and water conservation are two of the key ecosystem services that forests provide for societal need to address environmental issues. Optimization of the dual services is the ultimate goal in forest management for mitigating global climate change and safeguarding terrestrial water balance. However, there are some tradeoffs between gain in forest productivity and ecosystem water balance. We conducted literature review based on published articles for learned knowledge on forest carbon fixation and hydrological regulations. Some knowledge gaps and research needs are identified by examining the inter-connections between forest carbon sequestration and water conservation. Past researches have helped gain basic understanding of the mechanisms and controls of forest carbon fixation and hydrological regulations as two separate issues. Tools and approaches are well established for quantifying and monitoring forest carbon and hydrological issues, operating at different spatial and temporal scales. There are knowledge gaps on how to design afforestation schemes facilitating enhanced ecosystem services in forest carbon sequestration and water conservation. For the top-down planning of afforestation in regions where water availability is anticipated to be problematic, the questions of how much and where to plant for given land availability, known environmental implications, and sustained regional development and livelihood need to be addressed. For local management considerations, the questions of what and how to plant prevail. Efforts are needed in joint studies of forest carbon sequestration and water conservation functionalities, specifically in relation to establishment and management of planted forests aiming for delivering regulatory ecosystem services in carbon sequestration, water conservation and other social values. We propose an integrated framework with dual consideration of carbon sequestration and water conservation in forest management for future research pursue.

Monetary Valuation of Flood Protection Ecosystem Service Based on Hydrological Modelling and Avoided Damage Costs. An Example from the Čierny Hron River Basin, Slovakia

“…The applied approach follows the SCS curve number method [61,70], which is based on the assumption that the forest performs flood protection (retention) best. As noted by [76,77], the impact of forest and increasing afforestation on hydrological regulations may not be clear, especially in areas with a lack of precipitation and in river basins above 1000 km 2 , where there is a great variability of factors (climatic conditions, urbanization, dam construction). However, this is not the case in the study area.…”

Spatiotemporal Evolution Characteristics and Driving Factors of Water Conservation Service in Jiangxi Province from 2001 to 2020

“…Water conservation functions were originally discussed in terms of forest hydrology [15,16], and many studies have been conducted in various countries to assess water conservation functions at different regional scales [17][18][19], as well as in different ecosystems [9,20] and land-use types [11,21]. Traditional assessment methods focus on integrated water storage [22], water balance [23], and soil water storage [24].…”

Study on forest land change dynamics based on CA-Markov and FORECAST models

“…The rise of greenhouse gases has brought a huge threat to the living environment of human beings, and forests play a very important and irreplaceable role in mitigating climate change [2][3][4][5]. Forests sequester carbon in their own ecosystems and forest products produced by trees, and during the regeneration of young forests, they will also absorb a large amount of carbon dioxide due to photosynthesis.…”