WeForest organised a three-and-a-half-day scientific meeting hosted by KU Leuven (Belgium) on ‘Why Forests Matter for Water and Climate’. WeForest invited a group of 35 international experts in the fields of Earth and plant sciences.

The objectives of the meetings were:

1. To elucidate the current state of knowledge on the importance of forests for water and other Earth system processes.

2. To prepare a policy brief to raise awareness of new findings on the importance of forests in strategies addressing climate change mitigation and adaptation, water management and land-use planning, providing policy makers with concise and clear information and encouraging multiple sectors to engage in sustainable forest management as part of broader landscape management.