Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T14:28:46.910Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Tropical Deforestation and Climatic Change

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Norman Myers
Norman Myers
Affiliation:
Consultant in Environment and Development, Upper Meadow, Old Road, Headington, Oxford OX3 8SZ, England, UK.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

As tropical forest cover is eliminated, there appear to be—despite earlier supposition to the contrary—a number of significant repercussions for climatic regimes, whether at local, regional, or even global, levels. These are manifested through disruptions of hydrological systems and precipitation patterns, through changes in albedo and associated evapotranspiration rates, and through contributions to the ‘greenhouse effect’. Certain of these processes are well established scientifically, whereas others remain speculative pending urgently-needed research.

This exploratory paper reviews some of the ecological linkages at work in the above super-serious circumstances. Further, it assesses the profound consequences that may arise for major development sectors such as agriculture, energy, and human settlements. It concludes with a short appraisal of some policy responses available, though here again choices for adoption should be based on the results of far more scientific research and allied investigation than has yet resulted in reliable knowledge.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 15 , Issue 4 , Winter 1988 , pp. 293 - 298
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Biswas, B.C. (1980). Effect of forest cover on rainfall distribution at Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Mausan, 31. pp. 178–80.Google Scholar
Bolle, H.-J., Seiler, W. & Bolin, B. (1986). Other greenhouse gases and aerosols: assessing their role for atmospheric radiative transfer. Pp. 157–203 in Bolin et al., q.v.Google Scholar
Bolin, B., Döös, B.R., Jäger, J. & Warrick, R.A. (Eds) (1986). The Greenhouse Effect: Climatic Change and Ecosystems. John Wiley and Sons. Chichester, UK: xxxi + 541 pp.Google Scholar
Cannell, M.G.R. (1982). World Forest Biomass and Primary Productivity Data. Academic Press, New York. NY. USA: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Chan, N.W. (1986). Drought trends in Northwestern Peninsular Malaysia: is less rain falling? Wallaccana, 44, pp. 8–9.Google Scholar
Dickinson, R.E. (Ed.) (1987). The Geophysiology of Amazonia: Vegetation and Climate Interactions. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, England. UK: xvii + 526 pp.Google Scholar
Dickinson, R.E. & Henderson-Sellers, A. (1988). Modelling tropical deforestation: a study of GCM land-surface parameterizations. Quarterly Journal of Royal Meteorological Society, 114. pp. 439–62.Google Scholar
Dickinson, R.E. & Virgi, H. (1987). Climate change in the humid tropics, expecially Amazonia over the last twenty thousand years. Pp. 91–105 in Dickinson, q.v.Google Scholar
FAO & UNEP (1982). Tropical Forest Resources. Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome, Italy, and United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, Kenya: xi + 106 pp.Google Scholar
Fleming, T.H. (1986). Secular changes in Costa Rican rainfall: correlation with elevation. Journal of Tropical Ecology, 2. pp. 87–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garrat, J.I. (1978). Flux profile relations above tall vegetation. Quarterly Journal of Royal Meteorological Society, 104. pp. 109–211.Google Scholar
Goh, K.C. (1980). Rainfall trends and deficiencies in Peninsular Malaysia. The Oriental Geographer, 24. pp. 25–40.Google Scholar
Goreau, T.J. & Mello, W.Z. de (1988). Tropical deforestation: some effects on atmospheric chemistry. Ambio, 17. pp. 275–81.Google Scholar
Green, S. & Minkowski, K. (1977). The Lion-tailed Monkey and its South Indian rain forest habitat. Pp. 289–337 in Primate Conservation (Ed. Rainie, P.). Academic Press. New York. NY, USA: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Hall, D.O. (in press). Carbon flows in the biosphere: present and future. Journal of the Geological Society (London. England).Google Scholar
Hamilton, A.C. & Macfadyen, A. (1988). Climatic Change on the East Usumbaras: Evidence from Records from Meteorological Stations. University of Ulster at Coleraine, Northern Ireland. UK: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Hansen, J.E. & Takahashi, T. (Eds) (1984). Climate processes and climate sensitivity. Geophysical Monograph No. 29, American Geophysical Union, Washington. DC, USA: [not available for checking].CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hare, F.K. (1985). Climate Variations, Drought and Desertification. World Meteorological Organization, Geneva, Switzerland: 35 pp.Google Scholar
Harriss, R.C., Wofsy, S.C., Garstang, M., Browell, E.V., Molion, L.C.B., McNeal, R.J., Hoell, J.M. jun., Bendura, R.J., Beck, S.M., Navarro, R.L., Riley, J.T. & Snell, R.L. (1988). The Amazon boundary layer experiment: dry season, 1985. Journal of Geophysical Research, 93, pp. 1351–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henderson-Sellers, A. & Gornitz, V. (1984). Possible climatic impacts of land cover transformations, with particular emphasis on tropical deforestation. Climatic Change, 6, pp. 231–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henderson-Sellers, A. & Robinson, P.J. (1986). Contemporary Climatology. Longman Scientific and Technical Books Ltd., London, England, UK, and John Wiley, New York, NY, USA: viii + 261 pp.Google Scholar
Houghton, J.T. (Ed.) (1984). The Global Climate. Cambridge University Press, New York, NY, USA: ix + 233 pp.Google Scholar
Houghton, R.A., Boone, R.D., Fruci, J.R., Hobbie, J.E., Melillo, J.M., Palm, C.A., Petersoin, B.J., Shaver, G.R., Woodwell, G.M., More, B., Skole, D.L. & Myers, N. (1987). The flux of carbon from terrestrial ecosystems to the atmosphere in 1980 due to changes in land use: geographic distribution of the global flux. Tellus, 398, pp. 122–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hutchison, B.A. & Hicks, B.B. (Eds) (1985). The Forest-Atmosphere Interaction. D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Netherlands, and Boston, Massachusetts, USA: [not available for checking].CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keller, M., Kaplan, W.A. & Wofsy, S.C. (1986). Emissions of N2O, CH4 and CO2 from tropical forest soils. Journal of Geophysical Research, 91, pp. 11, 791–11 & 802.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawson, T.L. (1986). Deforestion and induced changes in Mezo/micro-climate. Pp. 195–202 in Land Clearing and Development in the Tropics (Eds Lal, R., Sanchez, P.A. & Cummings, R.W.). A.A. Balkema Publishers, Rotterdam, Netherlands: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Lee, R. (1978). Forest Microclimatology. Columbia University Press, New York, NY, USA: xi + 291 pp.Google Scholar
Lettau, H., Lettau, K. & Molion, L.C. (1979). Amazonia's hydrologic cycle and the role of atmospheric recycling in assessing deforestation effects. Monthly Weather Review, 107, pp. 227–38.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lockwood, J.G. (1980). Some problems of humid equatorial climates. Malaysian Journal of Tropical Geography, 1, pp. 12–20.Google Scholar
Lovelock, J.E. (1987). Geophysiology: A new look at Earth Science. Pp. 11–23 in Dickinson, q.v.Google Scholar
Lovett, J.C. (1987). Endemism and affinities of the Tanzanian montane forests. Monograph in Systematic Botany, Missouri Botanical Garden, St Louis, Missouri, USA: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
McElroy, M.B. & Wofsy, S.C. (1986). Tropical forests: interactions with the atmosphere. Pp. 33–60 in Prance, q.v.Google Scholar
Meher-Homji, V.M. (1985). Disasters of deforestation: desertification or deluge ? Pp. 131–43 in Proceedings of the Conference on Forest Resources Crisis in the Third World. Sahabat Alam Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Meher-Homji, V.M. (1988). Effects of forests on precipitation in India. Pp. 51–77 in Forests, Climate and Hydrology (Eds Reynolds, E.R.C. & Thompson, F.B.), United Nations University, Tokyo, Japan: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Melillo, J.M., Palm, C.A., Houghton, R.A., Woodwell, G.M. & Myers, N. (1985). A comparison of two recent estimates of disturbance in tropical forests. Environmental Conservation. 12(1), pp. 37–40. 3 figs.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Molofsky, J., Hall, C.A.S. & Myers, N. (1986). A Comparison of Tropical Forest Surveys. US Department of Energy. Washington, DC, USA: vi + 66 pp.Google Scholar
Mooney, H.A., Vithousek, P.M. & Matson, P.A. (1987). Exchange of materials between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere. Science, 238, pp. 926–92.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moore, P. (1986). What makes rainforests so special ? New Scientist, 08, pp. 38–40.Google Scholar
Myers, N. (1980). The Conversion of Moist Tropical Forests. (Report to the National Academy of Sciences.) National Research Council, Washington, DC, USA: ix + 205 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Myers, N. (1984). The Primary Source: Tropical Forests and Our Future. W.W. Norton, New York, NY. USA: xiv + 399 pp.Google Scholar
Myers, N. (1988). Tropical deforestation and remote sensing. Forest Ecology and Management, 23, pp. 215–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oram, P.A. (1986). Sensitivity of agricultural production to climatic change. Climatic Change, 7, pp. 129–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parry, M.L., Carter, T.R. & Konijan, N.T. (Eds) (1988). The Impact of Climatic Variations on Agriculture (two volumes). Reidel Publishers, Dordrecht, Netherlands: 800 pp. and 700 pp.Google Scholar
Pereira, H.C. (1973). Land Use and Water Resources in Temperate and Tropical Climates. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, England, UK: 246 pp.Google Scholar
Pinker, R.T., Thompson, O.E. & Eck, R.A. (1980). The albedo of a tropical evergreen forest. Quarterly Journal of The Royal Meteorological Society, 106, pp. 551–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prance, G.T. (Ed.) (1986), Tropical Forests and the World Atmosphere. Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado: xxi + 105 pp.Google Scholar
Reynolds, E.R.C. & Thompson, F.B. (Eds) (1988). Forests, Climate and Hydrology, Regional Impacts. United Nations University, Tokyo, Japan: x + 217 pp.Google Scholar
Rosenweig, C. & Dickinson, R.E. (Eds) (1986). Climate-Vegetation Interactions. University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Rowntree, P.R., Wilson, M.F. & Sangster, A.B. (1985). Impact of Land Surface Variations on African Rainfall in General Circulation Models. Meteorological Office. Bracknell, Berkshire, England, UK: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Sagan, C., Toon, O.B. & Pollack, J.B. (1979). Anthropogenic albedo changes and the Earth's climate. Science. 206. pp. 1363–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Salati, E. & Vose, P.B. (1984). Amazon Basin: a system in equilibrium, Science, 225, pp. 129–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salati, E., Oliveira, D.E. de, Schubart, H.O.R., Novaes, F.C., Dourojeanni, M.J. & Umana, J.C. (in press). Changes in the Amazon over the last 300 years. In Earth Transformed by Human Action (Ed. B.T. Turner). Clark University. Worcester. Massachusetts, USA.Google Scholar
Sarmah, S.K. (1976). Some observations on variations of monsoon annual rainfall in Assam. Pp. 458–64 in Proceedings of Symposium on Tropical Monsoons. Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Puna, India: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Setzer, A.W. & Pereira, M.C. (in press). Amazon biomass burnings in 1987 and their tropospheric emissions. Science.Google Scholar
Shukla, J. & Mintz, Y. (1982). Influence of land-surface evapotranspiration on the Earth's climate. Science, 215, pp. 1498–500.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shuttleworth, W.J. (1988). Evaporation from Amazonian rain forest. Proceedings of Royal Society of London, B233, pp. 321–46.Google Scholar
Shuttleworth, W.J., Gash, J., Lloyd, C., Moore, C. & Roberts, J. (1984). Eddy correlation measurements of energy partition for Amazonian forest. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 110, pp. 1143–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sud, Y.C. & Smith, W.E. (1985). Influence of local land-surface processes on the Indian monsoon: a numerical study. Journal of Climate and Applied Meteorology, 24, pp. 1015–36.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sud, Y.C., Shukla, J. & Mintz, Y. (1985). Influence of landsurface roughness on circulation and rainfall. Pp. 93–4 in Proceedings of Third Conference on Climate Variations. American Meteorological Society, Los Angeles, USA: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Thompson, K. (1980). Forests and climate change in America: some early views. Climatic Change, 3, pp. 47–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warren, W.D.M. (1974). A study of climate and forest in the Ranchi Plateau. Indian Forester, 100, pp. 291–314.Google Scholar
Windsor, D.M. (in press). Climate and moisture availability on Barro Colorado Island, Panama: long-term environmental records in lowland tropical forests. Smithsonian Contributions.Google Scholar
Windsor, D.M., Rand, A.S. & Rand, W.M. (1986). Variation in Rainfall on Barro Colorado Island. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Panama: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Woodwell, G.M., Hobbie, J.E., Houghton, R.A., Melillo, J.M., Moore, B., Peterson, B.J. & Shaver, G.R. (1983). Global deforestation: contribution to atmospheric carbon dioxide. Science, 222, pp. 1081–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zhang, K. (1986). The influence of deforestation of tropical rainforest on local climate and disaster in Xishuangbanna region of China. Climatological Notes, 35, pp. 223–36.Google Scholar