A Little Deforestation Makes a Big Flood

A study has confirmed what environmental advocates have long known: Cutting down forests increases the risk of flooding. The international study adds numbers to the equation: As little as 10% loss of forest cover leads to a an increase of as much as 28% in flood risk, according to the Charles Darwin University and the National University of Singapore research, written about in today's Straits Times of Singapore.

Nearly 100,000 people died, 320 million were displaced and $1.15 trillion in damages was sustained due to flooding in 56 developing countries across Africa, Asia and South America in the 1990s. Analyzing records of forest cover and using a complex mathematical model, the scientists estimated that a 10% loss of forest cover leads to an increase of flood risk of between 4% and 28%. The loss of forest is also a major contributor to global warming.

Because of deforestation, Indonesia is the No. 3 contributor to climate change, behind China and the United States, where the contribution comes from burning coal and other fossil fuels, primarily. This study could provide some additional political support for retaining forests in developing nations, but larger schemes that have industrialized nations funding forest protection in the third world will most likely be needed, since economic development in many forested nations relies on logging, farming and other practices that can be destructive to forests.

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