A great part of Brazil has been in the grip of one of the worst droughts in its history: reservoirs running dry, water strictly rationed, particularly in Sao Paulo. Such droughts have generally been considered “natural disasters beyond man’s control.” But increasingly now researchers are showing that this is not so. Here is one account of what happens taken from an article by Jim Robbins of the Toronto Star.
“Cutting down forests releases stored carbon dioxide, which traps heat and contributes to atmospheric warming. But forests also affect climate by absorbing more solar energy than grasslands, for example, or releasing vast amounts of water vapor. Many experts believe that deforestation is taking place on such a large scale, especially in South America, that it has already significantly altered the world’s climate.
“A lot of people are scrambling to make observations in the Amazon this year, with the expected big El Nino coming,” says Abigail LS Swann, an eco-climatologist at the University of Washington. “It’s expected to drive significant drought over the