While India grapples with heavy rainfall and flooding in several regions, research reveals a concerning trend in the Amazon rainforest: a steady decline in rainfall. The Amazon, a vast tropical forest spanning across nine South American countries, is experiencing a decrease in rainfall, particularly during the dry season. Between 1985 and 2020, the dry season saw an average reduction of 21 millimeters of rainfall each year. A recent study published in Nature Communications delves into the reasons behind this decline, exploring the impact of global warming and deforestation. Researchers from the University of Sao Paulo, led by Marco Franco and Luiz Augusto Toledo Machado, analyzed land use and atmospheric data from the Brazilian Legal Amazon region over a 35-year period. Statistical models were used to assess the contributions of global warming and deforestation to the declining rainfall. The study found that deforestation is the primary culprit, responsible for about three-quarters of the rainfall reduction since the mid-1980s. Global warming played a smaller, yet significant role. The decrease in rainfall during the dry season from 1985 to 2020, with 15.8 mm attributed to deforestation (74.5% of the total decrease). Furthermore, deforestation contributed to a 0.39°C increase in maximum daily temperatures during the dry season. The Amazon rainforest plays a critical role in the climate, with the trees facilitating a water cycle through transpiration, generating over 40% of the region’s rainfall. Deforestation disrupts this cycle, leading to reduced rainfall. The research also highlights that deforestation is changing the South American monsoon, increasing the risk of droughts, particularly in Brazil. The Amazon has seen record droughts in 2023 and 2024, impacting river transport and hydropower. The most significant changes in rainfall and temperature happen when a substantial portion of the forest is destroyed, indicating the immediate impact of deforestation on local weather patterns. Projections show that if deforestation continues at the current rate, dry season rainfall could decline further by 7 mm by 2035, and temperatures could increase by 0.6°C, posing a major threat to the Amazon’s ecosystem and the communities who rely on it. Despite a decrease in deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon in 2024, the region experienced significant forest fires, with over 4.6 million hectares of primary forest burned, exceeding the average loss of the previous decade.
Amazon Rainforest Under Threat: Deforestation and Climate Change Impacting Rainfall Patterns
