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Nature 449, 409-410 (27 September 2007) | doi:10.1038/449409a; Published online 26 September 2007

Environmental science: Forests and floods

William F. Laurance1

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One strategy for reducing catastrophic floods invokes protecting or regenerating forests that lie upstream of a threatened region. Support for this approach comes from a global-scale analysis of flood risk.

Floods can be devastating, especially in developing countries, which are already struggling to improve the welfare of their people. Floods in such countries during the 1990s took almost 100,000 lives, displaced more than 300 million people and caused more than US$1 trillion in damage to properties1, 2.

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NEWS AND VIEWS

Environmental science Forests and floods

Nature News and Views (27 Sep 2007)