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Carbon sequestration in tropical forests and water: a critical look at the basis for commonly used generalizations
Author(s) -
MALMER ANDERS,
MURDIYARSO DANIEL,
SAMPURNO BRUIJNZEEL L. A.,
ILSTEDT ULRIK
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
global change biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.146
H-Index - 255
eISSN - 1365-2486
pISSN - 1354-1013
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2009.01984.x
Subject(s) - reforestation , afforestation , tropics , carbon sequestration , climate change , deforestation (computer science) , environmental science , agroforestry , land use, land use change and forestry , tree planting , tropical forest , water cycle , land use , global change , environmental resource management , ecology , computer science , carbon dioxide , biology , programming language
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.