Even as miners, loggers and ranchers fell them at record rates, scientists are still learning about all the things that forests do to keep the local and global climate comfortable and stable.
Most recently, they have provided “compelling evidence” for the first time for a link between deforestation and rainfall decline across the tropics as a whole.
“Local people living near deforested regions often report a hotter and drier climate after the forests are cleared. But until now this effect had not been seen in rainfall observations,” study co-author and project supervisor professor Dominick Spracklen of the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds said in a press release. “The study shows the critical importance of tropical forests in sustaining rainfall.”
https://www.ecowatch.com/deforestation-rainfall-science.html
Most recently, they have provided “compelling evidence” for the first time for a link between deforestation and rainfall decline across the tropics as a whole.
“Local people living near deforested regions often report a hotter and drier climate after the forests are cleared. But until now this effect had not been seen in rainfall observations,” study co-author and project supervisor professor Dominick Spracklen of the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds said in a press release. “The study shows the critical importance of tropical forests in sustaining rainfall.”
https://www.ecowatch.com/deforestation-rainfall-science.html