Tropical deforestation causes large reductions in observed precipitation

Abstract Tropical forests play a critical role in the hydrological cycle and can influence local and regional precipitation 1 . Previous work has assessed the impacts of tropical deforestation on precipitation, but these efforts have been largely limited to case studies 2 . A wider analysis of interactions between deforestation and precipitation—and especially how any such interactions might vary across spatial scales—is lacking. Here we show reduced precipitation over deforested regions across the tropics. Our results arise from a pan-tropical assessment of the impacts of 2003–2017 forest loss on precipitation using satellite, station-based and reanalysis datasets. The effect of deforestation on precipitation…

• NF
  Newton Fund
• EC
  European Commission

  Award: 771492
• MO
  Met Office