Forest Green Infrastructure to Protect Water Quality: A Step-by-Step Guide for Payment Schemes

Member States continue to develop and invest in best practice farming measures to reduce diffuse pollution from agriculture, such as farm-level nutrient planning, reduced tillage and the use of catch crops. These have improved water quality but in most cases by an insufficient margin to meet environmental quality standards. Notably, there has been limited improvement in the proportion of water bodies achieving good ecological status since the first River Basin Management Plans were published in 2009. While there is scope for further improvement in the effectiveness and uptake of farm measures, there is growing recognition that wider delivery of good ecological status will only be achieved by a significant degree of land-use change. This chapter focuses on the water benefits of Forest Green Infrastructure (FGI), although it is recognised that the use of tree-based measures such as tree planting and management should be part of a wider framework of integrated catchment management (e.g. including opportunities for peatland and wetland restoration) and associated strategies and plans.