Self-influencing feedback of deforestation on the actors responsible

Transpiration from the forests influences the rainfall falling over the vegetation, and a portion of this transpired moisture gets transported to the downwind regions of the source forest. For Amazon, one-third of the rainfall originates from its own basin.

Furthermore, a significant portion of transpired moisture from within the Amazonian basin is transported to cropland and pasture areas outside the basin. This moisture transport is, however, hindered by deforestation, which influences the forest-rainfall feedback.

This feedback has been shown to also negatively impact crop production downwind to the Amazon, speculatively leading to a self-defeating scenario (i.e., actors of deforestation are themselves affected by their actions).

It has been unclear if the actors driving the deforestation and reducing rainfall are largely self-sabotaging their own interests, or if they are making gains on the expense of other downwind actors.

In the former case, knowledge support may be important so that actors can better understand driver-impact relationships. In the latter case, however, strong regulation to manage externalities might be critical. Hence, shedding light on this aspect will contribute to more effective governance.

In this study, using high-resolution moisture recycling and spatially explicit land-tenure data, we explore the potential of deforestation-rainfall feedback on actors and sectors responsible for driving deforestation in South America.