The indiscriminate deforestation of which he has been a victim for several years Amazon is the great guilty of the marked reduction of rainfall in much of South AmericaAccording to a study carried out by a team of researchers from the University of Leeds, UK.
“It has been shown that Larger-scale deforestation in southern Amazon reduces recycling of rainfallwhich leads to a reduction in rainfall,” he explained. callum smith idoctoral researcher at the School of Earth and the Environment of the University of that city.
“This investigation that we have just carried out contributes convincing evidence to protect forests from uncontrolled logging”, added the specialist in deforestation issues.
To carry out the study, Smith and his collaborators compared a series of data about the deforestation and rain which I obtained thanks to the help of a satelitewith the objective of identify the regions where the forests had been cleared and showing that the loss of tree cover I was in the tropics directly associated with the marked decrease in rainfall recorded in the area.
Thus, they studied in depth the impact of the increasing loss of forests in three specific tropical zones -the Amazon, the Congo and Southeast Asia-, which have registered rapid changes in land use.
Among the main conclusions, the study revealed that the loss of tropical forests caused a reduction in rainfall throughout the yeareven during the dry season, when further desiccation will have greater ramifications on plant and animal ecosystems.
“The greatest absolute drop in rainfall occurred in the wet seasonwith a reduction of up to 0.6 millimeters per month for each percentage point of loss of forest coverSmith commented.
Finally, specialists affirm that, consolidating the rate of deforestation in the Congo, by the end of the century rainfall in the region could be reduced by between 8% and 12%which would have very serious repercussions both on biodiversity and on agriculture, as well as seriously endangering the viability of the the forests of the congo, They are among the largest carbon stores in the world.
