Water For Life™ Concerts

• Tropical rainforests are extremely rich ecosystems that play a fundamental role in the basic functioning of the planet and home to probably 50%t of the world’s species.  In addition, rainforests help maintain the climate by regulating atmospheric gases and stabilizing rainfall, protect against desertification.
• Tropical rainforests produce about 30% of our planets fresh water. Trees extract groundwater through their roots and release it into the atmosphere. The water cycle is affected by deforestation.  When part of a forest is removed, the region cannot hold as much water and can result in a much drier climate. Deforestation reduces the content of water in the soil and groundwater as well as atmospheric moisture. Deforestation also reduces soil cohesion, so that erosion, flooding and landslides ensue.
• Shrinking forest cover lessens the landscape’s capacity to intercept, retain and transport precipitation. Instead of trapping precipitation, which then percolates to groundwater systems, deforested areas become sources of surface water runoff, which moves much faster than subsurface flows. That quicker transport of surface water can translate into flash flooding and more localized floods than would occur with the forest cover.
• Aquifers are critically important in human habitation and agriculture as they provide sustainable fresh groundwater. Deep aquifers in arid areas have long been water sources for irrigation.  Many villages and even large cities draw their water supply from wells in aquifers.

As a result, the presence or absence of trees can change the quantity of water on the surface, in the soil or groundwater, or in the atmosphere. This in turn changes erosion rates and the availability of water for either ecosystem functions or human services.