The Amazon rainforest creates its own rainfall through 'flying rivers'

The Amazon basin generates so much evapotranspiration — water vapour released by trees through their leaves — that scientists have described it as 'flying rivers' moving more water than the Amazon River itself. This moisture is carried by trade winds westward and south, generating rainfall across large parts of South America including São Paulo and the agricultural heartland of Brazil. Deforestation disrupts this process, reducing rainfall hundreds of kilometres away from the cleared land. Brazilian climate scientist Antonio Nobre estimates that once deforestation crosses a tipping point of about 20–25%, the flying rivers will collapse.

Source: Nobre et al., Nature Climate Change (2016)