Carbon sequestration in tropical forests and water: a critical look at the basis for commonly used generalizations

Tree planting in the tropics is conducted for a number of reasons including carbon sequestration, but often competes with increasingly scarce water resources. The basics of forest and water relations are frequently said to be well understood but there is a pressing need to better understand and pred...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Global change biology 2010-02, Vol.16 (2), p.599-604
Main Authors: MALMER, ANDERS, MURDIYARSO, DANIEL, (SAMPURNO) BRUIJNZEEL, L.A, ILSTEDT, ULRIK
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Biological and medical sciences
Carbon sequestration
Climate change
dry-season streamflow
Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use
Forestry
Forests
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General aspects
General forest ecology
Generalities. Production, biomass. Quality of wood and forest products. General forest ecology
groundwater
Hydrologic modeling
hydrological model
Miljö- och naturvårdsvetenskap
REDD
transpiration
tropical forest
tropical forests
water balance
water budget
Water resources
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Summary:Tree planting in the tropics is conducted for a number of reasons including carbon sequestration, but often competes with increasingly scarce water resources. The basics of forest and water relations are frequently said to be well understood but there is a pressing need to better understand and predict the hydrological effects of land-use and climate change in the complex and dynamic landscapes of the tropics. This will remain elusive without the empirical data required to feed hydrological process models. It is argued that the current state of knowledge is confused by too broad a use of the terms 'forest' and '(af)forestation', as well as by a bias towards using data generated mostly outside the tropics and for nondegraded soil conditions. Definitions of forest, afforestation and reforestation as used in the climate change community and their application by land and water managers need to be reconciled.
ISSN:1354-1013
1365-2486
1365-2486
DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2486.2009.01984.x