Crisis in Brazil: Amazon endures most severe drought in a century

The severe drought affecting the Amazon is alarming and worries residents and environmentalists. The images of the jungle in northern Brazil are shocking due to the environmental degradation and its cities are in a state of emergency.

This is one of the worst droughts in the last 100 years. In total, there are 50 municipalities in the state of Amazonas in an emergency situation, classified as having severe drought .

Among the most affected cities is Manaus, the capital of Amazonas, which was recently covered with a thick layer of smoke from fires near the region.

There was so much smoke that schools in Manaus cancelled activities, advising students to wear masks throughout the day. This is because the concentration of particles in the air was 100 times greater than that recommended by the WHO.

And the trend is getting worse. Rainfall is 50% below average, and it seems that a moderate and severe drought will remain in the states of the northern region in the coming months, reported the National Center for Monitoring and Alerts for Natural Disasters (Cemaden).

Important rivers, such as the Negro and Solimões, which form the Amazon River, have a pessimistic forecast and are expected to have flows below the historical average.

To give you an idea, on October 16, 2023, the level of the Rio Negro, in Manaus, recorded the lowest point since 1902, at 13.59 meters or 44.5 feet, according to BBC Brasil.

Anyone who visits the place is haunted by the increase in the number of sandbars, which are getting bigger and bigger and are expected to increase until the end of the year.

While the lowest water levels in history are recorded, entire cities may become isolated, as their access occurs exclusively by river. In addition, the transport of food and medicine and the water supply are also affected, according to WWF Brazil.

Although there are, naturally, times of flood and drought, the severe drought of 2023 is a consequence of the union of two factors, which have intensified the drought in the region.

The first factor is El Niño, that is, the warming of the equatorial Pacific Ocean, which, in 2023, is stronger.

The second factor that affects rainfall in the Amazon is the abnormal warming of the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Thus, these two factors combined work to reduce the amount of rainfall, causing a terrible drought.

In fact, the intense decline in precipitation in the Amazon this year transformed the meteorological drought into a hydrological drought, reflected in low water levels in rivers, with serious impacts on biodiversity, reported WWF Brazil.

Because of this, species of aquatic animals have died, as was the case of the 141 dolphins, in Lake Tefé, in the interior of Amazons, where the water temperature reached 40ºC / 104ºF.

"It's something that has never been seen before, even in other extreme droughts," researcher Miriam Marmontel, from the Mamirauá Institute, told BBC News.

“If the temperature of the North Atlantic Ocean continues to increase, with fires and deforestation at the current rate, we will reach a point where even human populations will have difficulty living in the region”, warned researcher Jochen Schöngart, from Inpa (National Institute of Amazon Research), to WWF Brasil.

To minimize the damage, the federal government announced a package of measures, such as the distribution of supplies to affected populations and the dredging of rivers to allow navigation, the main means of transport in the region, BBC Brasil reported.