This report provides for the first time a European overview of the role of forests in water retention, based on the Water Accounts Production Database developed at the EEA. The results represent 287 sub-basins hosting more than 65 000 catchments across Europe. The impact of forests on water retention is measured according to three parameters/characteristics: forest cover (measured in hectares), forest types (coniferous, broad-leaved, mixed), and the degree of management of the forests (‘protected’ versus unprotected/commercial forests). The estimation of the water-retention potential is derived from the relationships between input (rainfall) and output (water run-off into rivers and lakes) as affected by these three forest characteristics.
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This article by EEA (European Environment Agency) originally appeared on eea.europa.eu on September 24, 2015 at 12:00PM
