A guide to forest-water management

La Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Agricultura y la Alimentación (FAO) ha publicado una nueva guía de hidrología forestal titulada "A guide to forest-water management".

En esta guía se explica cómo los bosques y los árboles son parte integral del ciclo mundial del agua y, por lo tanto, son vitales para la seguridad del agua: regulan la cantidad, la calidad y el tiempo del agua y brindan funciones de protección contra (por ejemplo) la erosión del suelo y las costas, las inundaciones y las avalanchas. Las cuencas hidrográficas boscosas proporcionan el 75% de nuestra agua dulce, entregando agua a más de la mitad de la población mundial.

El propósito de esta guía es mejorar la base de información global sobre las funciones protectoras de los bosques para el suelo y el agua. Revisa las técnicas y metodologías emergentes, proporciona orientación y recomendaciones sobre cómo gestionar los bosques para sus servicios de ecosistemas hídricos y ofrece información sobre los casos comerciales y económicos para la gestión de bosques y los servicios de los ecosistemas hídricos.

Los bosques nativos intactos y los bosques plantados bien gestionados pueden ser un enfoque relativamente barato para la gestión del agua y, al mismo tiempo, generar múltiples beneficios colaterales. La seguridad del agua es un desafío global significativo, pero este documento sostiene que los bosques centrados en el agua pueden proporcionar soluciones basadas en la naturaleza para garantizar la resiliencia del agua a nivel mundial.

Enlace para descargar la guía.

Recordatorio. Special issue: Recent Progress in Forest Restoration

 Dear Colleagues,

Forest ecosystems generate important ecosystem services and benefits, such as the conservation of biodiversity, the mitigation of climate change, and the regulation of hydrological processes. However, extensive forest lands have been degraded across the world. The restoration of these lands should be of high priority. Research and innovation in the topic of forest restoration is therefore urgent.

Advances in forest science and ecology have made it possible to improve restoration techniques, in terms of the choice of species to be used, nursery cultivation, conservation of forest genetic resources, and site preparation and implantation methods, among others. New forest restoration strategies (at the stand and landscape scale) must address issues such as the formation of microenvironments that are more favorable for the survival and development of seedlings, improved efficiency in the use of natural processes (nature-based solutions), the optimization of hydrological processes, and self-protection of the forests against fires.

This special issue seeks to bring together articles that present recent advances in these and other issues related to the restoration of forest ecosystems. We find the following topics particularly interesting:

• Climate-adaptive forest restoration and reforestation
• Forest restoration and carbon sequestration
• Causes of restoration and reforestation failures vs. success. "Lessons learned" in historic forest restorations
• Effects of forest restoration on biodiversity and genetic diversity
• Species selection in the lights of climate change
• Influence of forest restoration on forest-water-soil relationships. Forest restoration and soil conservation
• Development of innovative seeding and planting techniques
• Forest-related ecosystem services
• Socio-ecological aspects in forestry

Prof. Dr. Jorge Mongil-Manso
Prof. Dr. Joaquín Navarro Hevia
Prof. Ilan Stavi
Guest Editors

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Jorge Mongil-Manso Website
Guest Editor

Hydrology and Conservation Research Group, Catholic University of Ávila, MO 64145 Ávila, Spain
Interests: forest restoration; forest hydrology; erosion and desertification

Prof. Dr. Joaquín Navarro Hevia Website
Guest Editor

Department of Agriculture and Forest Engineering, University of Valladolid, 47002 Valladolid, Spain
Interests: erosion control; forest and hydrological restoration; bioengineering

Prof. Ilan Stavi Website 

SciProfiles

Guest Editor

The Dead-Sea and Arava Science Center, Tamar Regional Council, Yotvata 88820, Israel
Interests: agro-ecosystems; food security; geo-ecology; land-use change; surface processes
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Land is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

forest ecosystems
forest restoration
forest soils
reforestation
site preparation
tree planting
vegetation-water-soil relationships

Special issue website