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Tropical Deforestation and Climatic Change

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Climate and Geo-Sciences

Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((ASIC,volume 285))

Abstract

So far as we can discern, tropical forests play a significant role in atmospneric patterns, whether at local, regional or global levels. In turn, this means they contribute to the workings of climate, notably via their impact on rainfall regimes among other repercussions (for some overview treatments, see Dickinson, 1987; Houghton, 1984; Lawson, 1986; Prance, 1986; Rosenzweig and Dickinson, 1986; Reynolds and Thompson, 1987). This raises important implications for development in the humid tropics with their two billion people— especially for agriculture and hence for the capacity of human communities to feed themselves. A number of tropical crops are more vulnerable to climate than is usually the case with temperate-zone crops; and in many parts of the humid tropics, a marginal shortfall in precipitation can cause a substantial shortfall in the outputs of several staple crops (Oram, 1986; Parry and Carter, 1985). In addition, tropical deforestation may eventually prove disruptive for climatic patterns in regions far outside the humid tropics.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Upper Meadow, Old Road, Headington, Oxford, UK

    Norman Myers (Consultant in Environment and Development)

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  1. Norman Myers
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut d’Astronomie et de Géophysique Georges Lemaître, Université Catholique de Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

    A. Berger

  2. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA

    S. Schneider

  3. Centre des Faibles Radioactivités, Laboratoire Mixte CNRS-CEA, Gif-sur-Yvette, France

    J. Cl. Duplessy

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© 1989 Kluwer Academic Publishers

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Myers, N. (1989). Tropical Deforestation and Climatic Change. In: Berger, A., Schneider, S., Duplessy, J.C. (eds) Climate and Geo-Sciences. NATO ASI Series, vol 285. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2446-8_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2446-8_19

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-7923-0412-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-2446-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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