ABSTRACTLake Babati in Tanzania is a small lake that has flooded three times in recent years,i. e.in 1964, 1979 and 1990. The floods caused considerable damage to the nearby town of Babati, particularly in 1990. Both fluctuating amounts of rainfall and changes in the landscape have been proposed to be flood-eliciting factors. However, an analysis of rainfall trends in the region, a water-balance model simulating lake levels under both forested and deforested- degraded catchment conditions, and a series of interviews with senior citizens, all indicate that changes in the landscape,i.e.deforestation and land degradation, induced the floods. No rainfall trend have been found that can explain the flood events.