How Forests Act as Natural Flood Defences: New Research Shows Trees Can Slash Flood Risk

New causal research overturns the prevailing view that forests only mitigate small floods — finding that healthy tree cover reduces both the frequency and magnitude of floods of all sizes, including extreme events. This reframes forests from biodiversity reserves to essential climate infrastructure.

Why this matters → When forests are proven to protect against the largest floods, not just moderate ones, the case for protection moves from ecological to economic — and becomes much harder for governments to ignore.