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Forests4Water: The Role of Forest Ecosystems in Safeguarding Water Resources
Urban areas in South Asia face escalating water stress, ecological degradation, and climate risks due to rapid land-use change, deforestation, wetland loss, and pollution, all of which disrupt water cycles and are worsened by climate change. Forest ecosystems, whether in upstream catchments, along coasts, or within cities, play a vital role in regulating flows, recharging aquifers, filtering pollutants, and buffering climate extremes, yet remain undervalued in urban planning.
With urban decisions influencing distant ecosystems and climate extremes intensifying, this three-part webinar series will explore how forests can be systematically integrated into city planning, water governance, and climate adaptation. Session 1 will exclusively focus on landlocked cities often suffering from shrinking green cover, degraded seasonal rivers, and over-extraction of groundwater, which compromise recharge, intensify urban heat, and flood risks.
Target audience for the webinar:
Urban and regional planners
Water utility professionals and engineers
Forest and environment department officials
NGOs and think tanks working on water and landscape conservation
Policy makers and donor agencies
Researchers, academics, and students in environmental sciences and urban studies