May Maya civilization collapse due to deforestation?

The collapse of ancient Mayan civilization has long been considered a mystery, because of the hundreds of reasons that scholars have given to explain this collapse, there is no reason to be completely convinced. .

Contributing a hypothesis about the collapse of this civilization, the team led by climate scientist Ben Cook collected more evidence to suggest that Mayan deforestation could be the cause. mainly leading to a decline in rainfall and can cause droughts, pushing Maya civilization to a path of decline.

Although the view that the Maya empire has destroyed the ecological environment by destroying forests is not new, has been discussed, even presented in the famous book named Collapse (Crash). ) by Jared Diamond, but nonetheless, Ben Cook's findings also contribute to the convincing of the above arguments.

The port city of Tulum (Mexico) still retains many vestiges of the Mayan civilization

At the time before Columbus set foot in the Mayan lands, this Central American empire had cut down widespread forests to create livelihoods, raising the growing population. And the Mayans were not aware that they were hurting themselves.

In order to clarify the cause of the collapse of the Mayan civilization after 900 AD (SCN), Ben Cook reconstructed in detail the forest cover on the Yucatan Peninsula at the time before and after, and found that from 800 to 950 AD, only a very small proportion of the forest remained on the Yucatan Peninsula.

Based on the modeling method, Ben Cook's team found that the destruction of rainforest for Mayan agriculture has increased the reflectivity of the soil surface, resulting in reduced rainfall. According to his explanation: 'agricultural land and grassland with higher reflectivity often absorb less solar energy than rainforest soil' and of course, increased reflexes will lead to changes in quantity. rain.

Operating weather models with new data, the team found that the average precipitation at Yucatan was reduced by 10% to 20%, causing the strongest effects in the area near major population centers. of Maya. During the final period of the Mayan Empire, between 800 and 950 AD, the total rainfall decreased by 20%. Weather patterns also coincide with precipitation records during the same period by studying stalagmites from caves.

However, according to Ben Cook, there may still be many other effects leading to the collapse of this empire. Not asserting that deforestation is the culprit causing drought or the direct cause of the decline of Maya civilization, but he considered deforestation can lead to typical weather patterns like drought. and contribute to drought. And a great drought can destroy an agriculture that is raising the growing population, depleting water and causing social disturbance.

The team's findings reinforce the view from an earlier study by Robert Oglesby, which says deforestation plays an important role in the decline of the Maya empire.

And if the Mayan story is exactly what the plausible researchers are, it will certainly be a great lesson for all of us, when in many parts of the world people seem to be going on. according to the Mayan 'car wreck', destroying the forest, destroying one's own life.