Turbo-charged by climate change, Amazon drought to leave region reeling through 2026

Record ID: 1754742

  • Title: Turbo-charged by climate change, Amazon drought to leave region reeling through 2026
  • Date: 1st December 2023
  • Summary: MANAUS, BRAZIL (NOVEMBER 30, 2023) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) INSTITUTO NACIONAL DE PESQUISAS DA AMAZONIA SCIENTIST, ROSIMEIRE ARAUJO SILVA, SAYING: “The human side is the one that suffers these consequences the most. Large and many communities become isolated. From the moment the river goes into lower levels, the only way to access the communities is the river. Th
  • Embargoed: 15th December 2023 13:02
  • Keywords: Amazon Brazil aid climate change drought river weather
  • Location: TEFE, MANAUS & MANACUPURO, BRAZIL
  • City: TEFE, MANAUS & MANACUPURO, BRAZIL
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: Droughts,Disaster/Accidents,South America / Central America
  • Reuters ID: LVA002248930112023RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The Amazon rainforest’s historic drought hit home for Raimundo Leite de Souza one October morning when he woke to find the stream behind his house had dropped nearly a foot while he slept, stranding his skiff in a mudflat.
    A record-breaking drought across northern Brazil, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana and parts of Venezuela and Colombia since April has sapped the Amazon River and four of its biggest tributaries to their lowest levels in at least half a century; threatening the livelihoods of millions of people; killing hundreds of endangered river dolphins; disrupting access to food and medicine in dozens of cities; triggered deadly riverbank collapses; wiping as much as 10 million metric tons from next year’s soy crop; and potentially doubling the mortality rate of the rainforest’s largest trees.
    And the worst may be yet to come, with experts predicting an even more intense drought next year, based on extreme ocean temperatures worsened by global warming.
    Reuters interviewed nine scientists who said the effects of the drought will only begin to recede with the onset of the rainy season in late 2024. Five of those scientists said they expect the Amazon is unlikely to recover before early 2026, because it will take two healthy rainy seasons to restore normal soil moisture in the rainforest.
    Some of the researchers predicting a 2026 recovery cautioned that their outlook could change, because of the influence of El Nino. The naturally occurring phenomenon roils global weather every two to seven years, warming waters off the Pacific coast of South America and pulling rains in that direction while depressing precipitation in the Amazon.
    The current El Nino is estimated to last until mid-2024.
    Brazil’s Amazonas state, the hardest hit by the drought, declared a public emergency in September, and has delivered drinking water and more than 1,000 tons of food staples like rice and beans via aircraft and smaller boats navigating shallow waters.
    Helicopters are working overtime to airlift the sick. Thousands of students are enrolled in remote classes because they can no longer get to school.
    Brazil’s federal government has pledged 628 million reais ($129 million) toward relief, including medical supplies, reinforcements to fight forest fires and dredging of the region’s biggest rivers to ease boat traffic.
    (Production: Bruno Kelly, Lais Morais, Gloria Lopez)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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