Articles | Volume 29, issue 7
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-1895-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-1895-2025
Research article
 | 
15 Apr 2025
Research article |  | 15 Apr 2025

Can large-scale tree cover change negate climate change impacts on future water availability?

Freek Engel, Anne J. Hoek van Dijke, Caspar T. J. Roebroek, and Imme Benedict

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Can large-scale tree cover change negate climate change impacts on future water availability?
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EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-313,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-313, 2024
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Cited articles

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Baker, J., Garcia-Carreras, L., Buermann, W., De Souza, D. C., Marsham, J., Kubota, P., Gloor, M., Coelho, C., and Spracklen, D.: Robust Amazon precipitation projections in climate models that capture realistic land–atmosphere interactions, Environ. Res. Lett., 16, 074002, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abfb2e, 2021. a
Bala, G., Caldeira, K., Mirin, A., Wickett, M., Delire, C., and Phillips, T.: Biogeophysical effects of CO2 fertilization on global climate, Tellus B, 58, 620–627, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0889.2006.00210.x, 2006. a
Bastin, J.-F., Finegold, Y., Garcia, C., Mollicone, D., Rezende, M., Routh, D., Zohner, C. M., and Crowther, T. W.: The global tree restoration potential, Science, 365, 76–79, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aax0848, 2019. a
Benedict, I., van Heerwaarden, C. C., van der Ent, R. J., Weerts, A. H., and Hazeleger, W.: Decline in Terrestrial Moisture Sources of the Mississippi River Basin in a Future Climate, J. Hydrometeorol., 21, 299–316, https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-19-0094.1, 2020. a, b
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A warming climate alters the freshwater availability over land, and, due to related tree cover change and potential forestation, this availability can be further enhanced or negated. We find that large-scale change in tree cover may counteract climate-driven changes on a global scale, whereas, regionally, the climate and tree cover impacts can differ extensively. Current ecosystem restoration projects should account for the effects of (re-)forestation on (non-)local water availability.
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