Desperate times ... canoes stranded in the Amazon River near
Santarem in Brazil. The drought has caused many tributaries
to completely dry out, isolating some communities.
Desperate times ... canoes stranded in the Amazon River near
Santarem in Brazil. The drought has caused many tributaries
to completely dry out, isolating some communities.
Photo: Greenpeace/Daniel Beltra
A state of emergency has been declared in the Amazon River
basin, which is suffering its worst drought in 42 years.
More than 1000 towns and hamlets that rely on the river for
transport have been cut off as water levels fall, making the
river unnavigable.
Several major tributaries, as well as parts of the main river
itself, contain only a fraction of their normal volumes of water,
and lakes are drying up.
The Amazonas Government secretary Jose Melo said hamlets cut
off from the outside world by the low river level were running
out of drinking water, medical supplies and provisions.
The region bakes in intense heat of about 38 degrees at this
time of year. The level of the Rio Negro, a tributary of the
Amazon, has dropped 12 metres since July to just 16 metres.
The Amazon River, South America's largest, has hit its lowest
level in the 36 years since records have been kept near its
source in Peru.
The Amazon is the second-longest river in the world, after
the Nile, but discharges far more water at its mouth than any
other.
"This drought and its effects are really shocking,"
said Carlos Rittl, Greenpeace Brazil's climate campaigner. "Towns
are lacking food, medicines and fuel because boats cannot get
through."
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To make matters worse, as the rainforest becomes increasingly
dry, damaging wildfires are regularly breaking out across the
region, destroying trees.
Greenpeace blames deforestation and climate change for the
drought. "The Amazon is caught between these two destructive
forces, and their combined effects threaten to flip its ecosystems
from forest to savannah," Mr Rittl said.
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