Handbook of Water Harvesting and Conservation

22Water Harvesting in Forests: An Important Step in Water-Food-Energy Nexus

Rina Kumari¹ and Saeid Eslamian²

¹School of Environment and Sustainable Development, Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar, India

²Department of Water Engineering, College of Agriculture, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran

22.1 Introduction

Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

Lack of access to water for meeting basic needs such as health, hygiene, and food security undermines development and inflicts enormous hardship on more than a billion members of the human family. And its quality reveals everything, right or wrong, that is done, in safeguarding the global environment

All major human civilization started on the bank of river, and for livelihood, many people were dependent on forests. Water is an essential commodity for all living beings for various purposes such as agriculture, industrial activity, to sustain life, and for maintenance of the range of ecosystem services needed to support and sustain economic and social activities. The ecosystem services are the benefits which humans receive from nature and natural processes (MEA 2003). Among the various ecosystem services being mapped, those related to water are of prime importance. Characterizing, assessing, and valuing ecosystem services can support forest management and livelihood of local community.

Forest–water relationships are complex and highly contextual, and sustainable development of any area depends ...