While due to annual fluctuations some years enjoy a good
rainfall in Northern India, the overall trend
over the last fifty years as deduced by the India Meteorological department
is a falling rain fall. This finding was revealed in newspaper report today
This is worrisome all the more since requirements of
fresh water has increased greatly in the same period due to a huge rise of
population in the last fifty years. The report further says that they cannot
pinpoint the cause hence also not a solution. However, a recent NASA study
provides both the cause and the solution. According to it, trees and forest
help to create rain.
Declining rainfall has followed the pattern of reducing
trees due to increasing urbanization, farming and deforestation in the same
period and the solution likely lies in increasing trees and forests. Trees help
to improve the climate and environment too as well as reduce extreme weather
events that too have been increasing simultaneously. If a rainfall of a whole
month falls in a day, it will lead to floods. Spread more evenly it enriches
the climate. Forests by introducing surface roughness help to reduce turbulence
in the atmosphere and thereby lead to a more even climate.
When considering new trees for forests, emphasis must be
given to those that produce food and fodder. Trees of the mulberry family and
the drumstick tree are excellent fast growing trees for this purpose.
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