Differences in groundwater response to deforestation — a continuum of interactions between hydroclimate,landscape characteristics and time

After several decades of catchment research, most forest hydrologists agree that deforestation leads to increased annual catchment yields and augment groundwater recharge and dry-season flow. Nevertheless, millions of people in the semi-arid tropics have good reasons — a deep knowledge of the land after using it for many generations — to state the very opposite, ie that deforestation implies dry springs and streams. In this paper a model is presented which attemps to show that both of the above views are correct, but only if the hydrological consequences of deforestation are related to the diversity in land management, hydroclimate and landscape characteristics. The possibility of closing the dichotomy of opinion between people and professionals is discussed.