NWIfor
Natural Water Infrastructure of Forests
6th Feb 2012 to 31st July 2012
CBD decision X/28, paragraph 39, recognises the good synergies between the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, requests the Executive Secretary, and invites the Secretariat and Scientific and Technical Review Panel of the Ramsar Convention, and other relevant partners, subject to the availability of financial resources, to establish an expert working group, building upon the relevant core expertise of the Scientific and Technical Review Panel of the Ramsar Convention, to review available information, and provide key policy relevant messages, on maintaining the ability of biodiversity to continue to support the water cycle
Objectives:
- To assess the hydrological functions of forests including their role in regulating water availability, including during extreme hydrological events (droughts and floods) & over more prolonged periods including inter-annually; including interactions with surface water availability, groundwater, soil moisture, humidity etc (US DOE, 2012; Wohl et al., 2012)
- To assess the functions and role of forests in nutrient regulation (water quality) and sediment regulation
- To assess interactions between forests and other ecosystem components of the water cycle including wetlands, grasslands, agricultural crops & other relevant biomes
- To assess key water-related ecosystem services provided by forests & their value
- To assess the role of forests in carbon storage & relevant linkages with hydrology
Funding sources
Ramsar Convention Secretariat (EAA7160)
Investigators
Nick A Chappell (PI) and international evidence and evaluation team
Cited Publications
Wohl, E., Barros, A., Brunsell, N., Chappell, N.A, Coe, M., Giambelluca, T., Goldsmith, S., Harmon, R., Hendrickx, J., Juvik, J., McDonnell, J., and Ogden, F. 2012. The hydrology of the humid tropics. Nature Climate Change, 2: 655-662 doi: 10.1038/nclimate1556. view paper (pdf).
U.S. DOE. 2012.Research Priorities for Tropical Ecosystems Under Climate Change Workshop Report, DOE/SC-0153. U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (Chapter 11 "Hydrology within Tropical Natural Forests: Implications for Large-Scale Ecosystem Modeling" p77-84 by Chappell, N.A.) view chapter or whole report (pdf).
Project Publications (ongoing)
Chappell, N.A. and Acreman, M. 2018. Land cover categories. In: Natural Infrastructure for Achieving Water Security: The Role of Ecosystems in the Water Cycle. Acreman, M., Coates, D., Davidson, N., and McInnes, R., (eds) Taylor & Francis, CT, United States, ISBN10: 0815360258, ISBN13: 9780815360254 (publication 31 Aug 2018).
Chappell, N.A. and de Mello C.R. 2018. Forests. In: Natural Infrastructure for Achieving Water Security: The Role of Ecosystems in the Water Cycle. Acreman, M., Coates, D., Davidson, N., and McInnes, R., (eds) Taylor & Francis, CT, United States, ISBN10: 0815360258, ISBN13: 9780815360254 (publication 31 Aug 2018).