![]() ![]() In the Congo, it could reduce local rainfall by 10% by the end of the century. ![]() SOMMER: In a new study in the journal Nature, Smith and his colleagues found that deforestation is directly leading to drought. And that lack of moisture that's a big cloud above those trees just disappears. SMITH: When we're removing trees, we're making the environment drier. But millions of acres of rainforest have been cut down over the past several decades, which breaks the cycle. In the Amazon in the Congo, it accounts for almost half of the total rainfall. ![]() SOMMER: This recycling process can happen over and over, spanning hundreds of miles across the rainforest, helping it sustain itself. And then the same thing happens in this big cycle. SMITH: And it's pushed along by the prevailing winds until it is rained out somewhere else on another tree. That humid air rises and helps create clouds. SOMMER: And then the trees use that water and release a lot of moisture either through their leaves or evaporation. SMITH: And those trees receive that rain, and it falls on their leaves and goes into the soils. He says first, storms blow in from the ocean, and it rains. But not in the big tropical rainforests of the world because they make their own rain.ĬALLUM SMITH: I remember learning about this for the first time, and I was just like, wow. LAUREN SOMMER, BYLINE: In a lot of ecosystems around the world, if it doesn't rain, they're out of luck. Lauren Sommer from NPR's Climate Desk explains. Deforestation is destroying their local ecosystems, and it's also affecting the weather. As humans change the environment around us, those changes are coming with surprising consequences, some of which are evident in rainforests around the world. ![]()
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