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  "One of the things that people don’t realize is that that natural beauty, those recreational forests, they have an economic development impact for the state as well."                                         ~ Ed Rendell Disruption of the Water Cycle R ain forests store vast quantities of water, and when those trees are cut down, the water they store is lost. As trees and plants are responsible for extracting groundwater from the soil and returning it the atmosphere, deforestation results in the water not being able to be released back into the atmosphere, affecting the balance of the water cycle. This results in lush rainforests turning into barren deserts (Desertification), leading to dry climates, which affects livings conditions.  The resulting dry climate would result in increased probability of fire on peat land because of higher temperature and lower rainfall during the dry season. This is worsened by the fact that peatland fires are extremely difficult to extinguish