Deforestation and Increased Flooding of the Upper Amazon

The height of the annual flood crest of the Amazon at Iquitos has increased markedly in the last decade. During this same period, there has been greatly increased deforestation in the upper parts of the Amazon watershed in Peru and Ecuador, but no significant changes in regional patterns of precipitation. The change in Amazonian water balance during the last decade appears to be the result of increased runoff due to deforestation. If so, the long-predicted regional climatic and hydrological changes that would be the expected result of Amazonian deforestation may already be beginning.