A new study published in the journal Nature that used satellite observations over the recent decades to confirm predictions in climate change computer models that rainfall would lessen across the tropics as more forest is cut down, confirmed that large-scale deforestation does threaten reductions in rainfall.
Effects will be felt from the Amazon to Southeast Asia, but the threat is most acute in the Congo Basin – forecast to endure rapid deforestation in the coming years – which could see rainfall reduced by up to ten percent by the end of the century.
The findings add to concerns that “we could come to a point where the rainforests cannot sustain themselves,” said the study’s lead author, Callum Smith of the University of Leeds.
He called for increased commitments to conservation, as researchers have concluded that restoring large areas of destroyed forest could reverse some of the rainfall loss.
Using data gathered across the tropical Amazon, Congo and Southeast Asia regions between 2003 and 2017, Smith and his colleagues found that large-scale deforestation disrupts the water cycle and leads to significant rain reduction, with the greatest loss occurring during the wet seasons.
While the importance of tropical forests for the global climate is well known to absorb and store planet-warming carbon dioxide, the impacts of tree loss on local weather conditions has been observed only in specific areas.
Deforestation – for cattle pastures, timber exploitation or commodity crops such as palm oil and soybeans – threatens to worsen climate change, destroy critical biodiversity, and also risks harming communities.
We actually don’t need more reasons to protect our forests. However, those that are not yet convinced of their importance may need another one, and this is it. Deforestation is not good for the planet and everything that lives in it, and as the de facto caretakers, humans have to take better care of the forests that remain.*
