One-third of the world's total is in the Amazon basin of Brazil. Rain forests usually experience high humidity and daily rainfall. On a more local level, the clearing of rain forest land diminishes the amount of evaporation. As a result, the rainfall decreases and the ground dries out, reducing its ability to support vegetation. Loss of rain forests also reduces the absorption of solar energy.
Sunlight reflects off the barren ground instead of being absorbed by trees.
This would tend to cause earth cooling, an opposite result from the carbon dioxide increase. If the cooling effect dominates, rainfall and air circulation might decrease worldwide. The trees are being cleared for timber, underground minerals, and farms. In the process, the great diversity of plants and animals in the rain forests is destroyed. Many conservationists consider deforestation the planet's greatest environmental problem.