Amazon Deforestation is Increasing Caribbean Hurricanes

Scientists are predicting dire consequences if the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest is not stopped soon. Lelei LeLaulu, president of Counterpart International, has said that cutting the forests will result in a disruption of the warm air flow in the atmosphere. This will in turn lead to an increase in the hurricanes in the Caribbean as well as the Gulf of Mexico.

LeLaulu said the description of the Amazon as "the lungs of the planet" may not be totally accurate as the region re-absorbs some 80-percent of the oxygen it generates.

"Climate scientists, however, have compiled studies which conclude the vast Amazonia is more the "heart of the planet" for its role in pumping moisture and rain to South America and beyond," asserts LeLaulu.

"Basically, the scientists are telling us forest destruction of the Amazon leads to a failure of forest transpiration, the forest pumps, leaving heat in the southern north Atlantic which in turn gives birth to more extreme hurricanes in the Caribbean," he cautioned. It also means the bread baskets of southern Brazil and Argentina could be turned to desert without the rain generated by the Amazon, he added.

Quoting from submissions made by top Brazilian scientists and their colleagues from the leading European and American academies of science to a high-level meeting on the Amazon, LeLaulu asserted, "we are now able to explain why the sea temperature of the southern north Atlantic has been rising, giving birth to more extreme hurricanes which ravage the Caribbean and North America."

Tom Spencer, vice chairman of the Institute for Environmental Security in the Hague, said this is the missing link and holds out the possibility of a new deal in the international climate negotiations such as the Kyoto Protocol. "The scientists are telling us we are running out of time as the forests struggle to survive. We in the political sphere have to approach international meetings such as the upcoming United Nations climate conference in Nairobi this November with a new sense of urgency," said Spencer former head of the British Conservative Party at the European Parliament.

For more information:http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/cgi-script/csArticles/articles/000024/002420.htm

While it seems there is definately an increase in the severity and quanity of Caribbean Hurricanes the last few years, others argue it is just a natural weather cycle. They state we have entered a period of high activity for the next few years.

Tags: Amazon rainforest, deforestation, hurricanes, caribbean hurricanes, gulf of mexico