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Discussions on the relationships between forests and water have primarily focused on the biophysical nature of these relationships. However, as issues such as land degradation affect the ability of forests to provide water-related ecosystem services resulting in water insecurity, the human dimension of the forest&ndash, water nexus has become more evident. This has resulted in the identification of the forest&ndash, water nexus as an issue that requires urgent recognition within major international policy processes and where knowledge gaps on the global state of the nexus exist. To address this, two major international policy frameworks driving the current development and environment agenda, namely the Sustainable Development Goals and the (Intended) National were analyzed to assess the integration of forests and water in international policy agenda. In addition, data on tree cover and water risks as well as data on forests managed for soil and water protection was analyzed to understand the global state of the forest&ndash, water nexus. The results indicate that even though there is no single indicator monitoring forest&ndash, water interactions, there are existing indictors that provide partial information on the forest&ndash, water nexus, which would be key to measuring progress towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Furthermore, the research has highlighted increasing political will as well as global trends that could be used to further harness support and include the forest&ndash, water nexus in these global policy agenda. As international processes move forward, the methodology presented here provides a way to evaluate progress of global management of forests for water ecosystem services and gives specific areas where further research that integrates the scientific and socio-political spheres is needed. It is hoped that the initial approach presented in this paper serves as a stepping-stone for further action that might result in better management of and policies for our global forest&ndash, water resources and their associated ecosystem services.

© 2017 The Author(s) Forest-driven water and energy cycles are poorly integrated into regional, national, continental and global decision-making on climate change adaptation, mitigation, land use and water management. This constrains humanity's ability to protect our planet's climate and life-sustaining functions. The substantial body of research we review reveals that forest, water and energy interactions provide the foundations for carbon storage, for cooling terrestrial surfaces and for distributing water resources. Forests and trees must be recognized as prime regulators within the water, energy and carbon cycles. If these functions are ignored, planners will be unable to assess, adapt to or mitigate the impacts of changing land cover and climate. Our call to action targets a reversal of paradigms, from a carbon-centric model to one that treats the hydrologic and climate-cooling effects of trees and forests as the first order of priority. For reasons of sustainability, carbon storage must remain a secondary, though valuable, by-product. The effects of tree cover on climate at local, regional and continental scales offer benefits that demand wider recognition. The forest- and tree-centered research insights we review and analyze provide a knowledge-base for improving plans, policies and actions. Our understanding of how trees and forests influence water, energy and carbon cycles has important implications, both for the structure of planning, management and governance institutions, as well as for how trees and forests might be used to improve sustainability, adaptation and mitigation efforts. publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Trees, forests and water: Cool insights for a hot world journaltitle: Global Environmental Change articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2017.01.002 content_type: article copyright: © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. ispartof: Global Environmental Change vol:43 pages:51-61 status: published