India badly affected with the increase in deforestation: Study

According to a new study, due to an increase in deforestation especially in the northern high latitudes, a toll over monsoon across the northern hemisphere is badly affecting the rains over India.

This study has been done by the researchers at Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore.

About seven percent of global land area had been cleared for agriculture by 1750s. The proportion has risen to around one-third since then.

A climate model was used to investigate the effects of large-scale deforestation which could estimate what happened when extensive deforestation took place across the globe, only in northern high latitudes, only in temperate areas and only in the tropics.

According to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, due to such deforestation, the rain in monsoon regions had simply declined. India was the most affected. It led to a reduction of about 18 percent during summer monsoon rains.

Whereas, due to such deforestation, there was an increase in rainfall in the southern hemisphere. Countries like South Africa, South America and Australia witnessed a moderate increase in rain due to deforestation.

According to the study, when forests were removed in the northern hemisphere, more sunlight was reflected back into the space which led to a severe effects on monsoon, especially in India.