Severe Drought Threatens Amazon Rainforest and Indigenous Lives

The El Niño Phenomenon: Identified as one of the leading causes of drought in the Amazon, the El Niño phenomenon results in abnormal warming of the Pacific Ocean’s surface waters, which in turn, disrupts rainfall patterns, leading to decreased humidity and lessened rainfall in the Amazon.

High Water Temperatures in the Northern Tropical Atlantic Ocean: Another climate factor contributing to the Amazon’s drought are the abnormally high water temperatures in the northern tropical Atlantic Ocean. Warm air, resulting from heated ocean waters, ascends into the atmosphere and eventually reaches the Amazon, preventing cloud formation and leading to a sharp decrease in rainfall.

Anthropogenic Climate Change: Human-induced climate change, primarily caused by activities like agriculture and logging, aggravates the drought situation. Deforestation hampers the Amazon’s ability to regulate climate, retain moisture, and leads to rising temperatures, creating a vicious cycle of increasingly severe droughts.

Mining Activity: Unregulated mining activities add to the crisis by creating landmasses that hinder river navigation. Additionally, mining disrupts aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems and releases harmful pollutants and greenhouse gases into the environment.

Hydroelectric Dams: Hydroelectric dams, particularly on the Madeira River, a major tributary of the Amazon, contribute to the drought scenarios. The reservoirs created for power generation alter natural river flows and affect ecosystems.

Transportation Infrastructure: Construction of infrastructure, such as highways, cutting through conserved areas, increases deforestation, and intensify climate anomalies in the biome.

Collectively, all these factors disrupt the Amazon region’s natural water cycle, leading to a decrease in river water volume, prolonged droughts, and negative consequences for aquatic life, riparian habitats, and local communities dependent on these water resources.

The severe drought in the Amazon has caused water levels to plummet drastically in several rivers, including the Rio Negro, one of the world’s largest rivers by discharge volumes. This has left tens of thousands of people stranded in remote jungle villages, without access to food, drinking water, medicine, or supplies.

The drought has also adversely affected the biodiversity and wildlife of the rainforest. Hundreds of fish and Amazon river dolphins have been discovered dead, their decomposed bodies contaminating the water. The drought has also increased the risk of forest fires that have reached an unprecedented high in some areas. These fires have destroyed extensive vegetation, releasing enormous amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and creating a thick haze of smoke that has severely affected air quality and visibility in many cities.

The Amazon Rainforest is a vast tropical rainforest occupying the drainage basin of the Amazon River and its tributaries in northern South America, covering an area of 6,000,000 square kilometers. It supports the world’s largest rainforest and accounts for over half of the total volume of rainforests worldwide.

The Amazon River Basin, comprising about 40% of Brazil’s total area and parts of several other South American countries, is the world’s largest drainage system. It is bounded by the Guiana Highlands to the north, the Andes Mountains to the west, the Brazilian Central Plateau to the south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east.

Tropical forests are closed-canopy forests growing within 28 degrees north or south of the equator. They are incredibly wet regions, receiving more than 200 cm of rainfall annually, either seasonally or throughout the year. The temperatures in these forests are uniformly high, ranging between 20°C and 35°C.