articleNature GeoscienceMay 1, 2022HYBRID OA

Shifts in regional water availability due to global tree restoration

Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology · Wageningen University & Research · +7 more institutions

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Abstract

Abstract Tree restoration is an effective way to store atmospheric carbon and mitigate climate change. However, large-scale tree-cover expansion has long been known to increase evaporation, leading to reduced local water availability and streamflow. More recent studies suggest that increased precipitation, through enhanced atmospheric moisture recycling, can offset this effect. Here we calculate how 900 million hectares of global tree restoration would impact evaporation and precipitation using an ensemble of data-driven Budyko models and the UTrack moisture recycling dataset. We show that the combined effects of directly enhanced evaporation and indirectly enhanced precipitation create complex patterns of…

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