Project funded
by theEU–DGEnvironment
L
andsurfacerelevant
forapplication
Artificial surface
Agriculture land
Forest and semi-natural areas
Wetlands
F
inancialcosts
(C
apital
,
operation
&
maintenance
)
Given the large area required for afforestation, land acquisition does not seem a
reasonable option due to the undoubtedly great expense. Better solutions would
involve changes to
subsidies
or other
support systems
to encourage affo-
restation of the appropriate areas.
D
esign
The hypothesized changes in precipitation regime which would be addressed by
this measure were caused by large scale deforestation and drainage in regions
bordering the
Mediterranean
. The available evidence to date suggests that this
measure is only applicable in the Mediterranean basin.
S
cale
The evidence from modelling studies
suggests that targeted planting to affect
precipitation patterns in the Mediter-
ranean basin only works when applied
at a
very large
spatial scale.
In the Mediterranean basin, land use change and deforestation may have led to changes from an open monsoon-type regime with frequent summer storms over
inland mountains, to a regime dominated by closed vertical atmospheric recirculation, where feedback mechanisms suppress storms over the coastal mountains
and lead to increased summer time sea surface warming. This warming leads to
torrential rains
in autumn and winter. Targeted afforestation in some parts
of the Mediterranean may be one means of
combating drought and desertification
.
Case studies:
Reforestation inVeneto, Italy;Water retention spacesand reforestation in southernPortugal
Targeted afforestation of artificial or agricultural
areas may create forests for catching precipitation.
FORESTRY
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