Environment & Energy

Judi Lynn

(160,591 posts) Mon Dec 28, 2015, 06:42 PM Dec 2015

Environmentalists say deforestation worsens flooding in South America

Environmentalists say deforestation worsens flooding in South America

Published December 28, 2015/
EFE

Deforestation is one of the main causes of the floods in South America that have left at least 140,000 people, 20,000 of them in Argentina alone, homeless, environmental groups said.

"Increasing rainfall and significant loss of forest cover in Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, which are among the world's 10 countries with the most deforestation, have not allowed the natural absorption of water," Greenpace said in a statement.

"When we lose forests, we become more vulnerable to intense rains and risk major flooding," Hernan Giardini, coordinator of Greenpace Argentina's Forests Campaign, said.

Between 2007 and 2015, Entre Rios province, the region most affected by flooding, lost more than 85,000 hectares (209,800 acres) of native forest, the Argentine Environment and Sustainable Development Secretariat said.

More:
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2015/12/28/environmentalists-say-deforestation-worsens-flooding-in-south-america/

(The article was originally published by Spain's E.F.E.)

3 replies

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Environmentalists say deforestation worsens flooding in South America (Original Post) Judi Lynn Dec 2015 OP

True - but the article barely touches on Paraguay, which has 200,000 evacuees. forest444 Dec 2015 #1

Isn't the same thing happening in China? JonathanRackham Dec 2015 #2

Yes, and in the UK as well. GliderGuider Dec 2015 #3

forest444

(5,902 posts)

1. True - but the article barely touches on Paraguay, which has 200,000 evacuees.

Reply to Judi Lynn (Original post)

Mon Dec 28, 2015, 07:10 PM

Dec 2015

http://www.laprensagrafica.com/2014/06/27/paraguay-200000-evacuados-por-inundaciones

This disaster is, besides being a reminder of the realities of climate change, a study in contrasts as far as public works:

In Argentina, where the river crested at 15.86 meters (52 feet), there are 20,000 evacuees.

In Paraguay, where the river crested at 7.82 meters (26 feet), there are 200,000 evacuees.

The potential affected population was similar in both countries. And both countries have extensive, low-lying shores along the Paraná, Paraguay, and Uruguay rivers; but whereas levees and drainage systems protect most of those communities on the Argentine side, Paraguay for the most part lacks these - even along the capital, Asunción.

It would have been even worse in Paraguay had it not been for Itaipú and Yacyretá dams - built by Brazil and Argentina, respectively, and two of the largest in the world.

The key to prevent future tragedies of this scale, given that climate change will probably make torrential rains more common, is effective zoning laws (banning people from building too close to certain river shores) and, above all, public works.

That's what FDR understood, and today there are 50 million people or more in the U.S. (mainly in the South) who are reasonably safe from catastrophic flooding thanks to him.

JonathanRackham

(1,604 posts)

2. Isn't the same thing happening in China?

Reply to Judi Lynn (Original post)

Mon Dec 28, 2015, 07:41 PM

Dec 2015

GliderGuider

(21,088 posts)

3. Yes, and in the UK as well.

Reply to JonathanRackham (Reply #2)

Tue Dec 29, 2015, 07:30 AM

Dec 2015

Misery for York, Leeds and Manchester as thousands of homes flooded

• Hundreds of flood warnings, 24 severe
• David Cameron admits flood defences were 'overrun'
• Aerial footage shows scale of York devastation
• Leeds city centre inundated with flood water
• 200-year-old pub collapses as River Irwell floods
• In pictures: northern England under water

“All this is because culverts do not get cleared by the Environment Agency, the water is running off the moors because the trees are being cut down – destroying natural flood defences – and planning permission has been given for big housing developments on the hillsides, so there is no earth to soak up the water."

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