1. Forest and water in changing climate -
Project proposal
Forest and water in changing climate -
Impacts of climate change on water discharge as a key ecosystem function in different (mountainous) catchments in Europe
European Environment Agency
Josef Herkendell
Project manager biodiversity and climate change impacts

2. Mountainous catchment (Alps)

3. Mountainous catchment (Norway)

4. Virtual water catchment
Runoff changes
P(t)
Precipitation changes
Temperature changes
Land use
EP(t)
R(t)
Proposed size
of the water catchment
Source: FAO Land and water bulletin 1/1993

5. Human versus natural impacts on watershed processes: a matter of scale
HIGHER
LIMITED
MICRO-WATERSHED
(less than 50 km²)
MESO-WATERSHED
(50 to km²)
MACRO-WATERSHED
(bigger than km²)
H U M A N IMPACT
Proposed size: less than 500 km² ?
N A T U R A L IMPACT
LIMITED
HIGHER
Source: Based on G. Ives and B. Messerli, The Himalayan dilemma. Reconciling development and conservation. London and New York, Routledge

6. Questions to be answered by project Overall targets
Test ing an integrated environmental assessment approach to better understand the functions and services of different land uses in catchments
Assessing and mapping the multiple functions of different land uses in catchments ( Reality check ) Variation over Europe
Selecting those functions to be shown as the most relevant ones for optimising quality of habitats and water discharge
Testing the response behaviour on the impact of extreme weather events based past data with regional CC scenarios
Vulnerability check
Adaptive capacity of the different functions?/limitations? (reality check on the basis of regional CC scenarios and/or observed impacts of extreme weather events)
Current and actual adaptation observations and processes
Possible recommendations for optimising land-use management

7. Proposed selection criteria for water catchments in the frame of this project:
Size: 50 to 500 km², one of each bio-geographical region
Physical and bio-geographical data and information on actual land-use/changes in land-use
±Even distribution of land-uses protected areas, forests and agriculture
East-West/West-East direction of the river flow (±20°), preferably
Full discharge information quantity/quality for the catchment Forest growth; Carbon stored; etc.
Information on weather extremes in the past 30 years (either drought, extreme precipitation)

8. Additional information and data needs for each catchment:
High density of additional information on ecosystems, preferably long-time series,
▪ Protected areas
▪ Forest
▪ Agriculture
▪ ( other relevant socio-economic information)?

9. Changes in runoff in Central Alps (Hirham RCM)
Source: Martin Beniston, University of Geneva, Switzerland

10. Examples of recent and projected runoff regime
Biogeographic regions of Europe
Arctic Boreal Atlantic Continental Alpine Panonian Mediterranean Steppic Black Sea Anatolian
Indalsaelven (Bergeforens)
Dischmabach (Davos)
Rhone (Chancy)
Guadiana (Pulo do Lobo)
Source: Zierl et al. 2004, Dankers and Feyen, 2008

11. Alpine runoff regime Example Dischma valley, 2051 - 2080
? = weather extremes, flood, drought ?
possible minimum discharge (drought)
Source: Zierl et al. 2004

12. Multifunctionality of water catchments and their services
For all cases: average development for the last 30 years
Functions
Land uses
Water
discharge
Biodiversity
C-storage
Culture aspects/
landscape
Protection of
infrastructure
Income
Forests
Agriculture
Infrastructure ?

13. Multifunctionality of water catchments in Europe
Vulnerability check: Impacts of extreme weather events in the past 30 years and climate change impacts in recent years (if available)
Functions
Land uses
Water
discharge
Biodiversity
C-storage
Culture aspects/
landscape
Protection of
infrastructure
Income
Forests
Agriculture
Infrasructure ?

14. Selection of catchments on the basis of forest covered water catchments
Biogeographic regions of Europe
Arctic Boreal Atlantic Continental Alpine Panonian Mediterranean Steppic Black Sea Anatolian ?
Mountainous Northern Europe (No, Swe, Fin) Less snow, lake and river cover Increased river flows ?
Highlands in Scotland Increase of winter precipitation Increased river flows ?
Central and Eastern Europe medium range mountains (F, D, Cz) Less summer precipitation More river floods in winter ? ? ?
High mountain areas (Alps, Carpathians) High temperature increase Less glacier mass Less mountain oermafrost ? ? ?
Mountainous Mediterranean region Decrease in annual precipitation Decrease in annual river flow Less energy by hydropower ?
(?)
Source: EEA Report No 4/2008, p.19

15. Questions to be answered for each case study:
How do the ecosystem services vary?
Do the different land-uses full fill the multiple functions of ecosystems in catchments differntly?
Which conclusions can be taken from the information on past extreme weather events?
Which recent impacts related to climate change can be observed?
Which conclusion need to be drawn in terms of recommendations for the future management of water catchments in different bio-geographical regions in Europe?

16. Thank you for your attention
and your contribution!