Named the main cause of the record deadly drought in the Amazon
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Human-caused climate change is the main cause of record drought in the Amazon.
The Amazon Basin has been in a state of exceptional, deadly drought since mid-2023, driven by low rainfall and persistently high temperatures throughout 2023 across the basin.
The river basin contains the largest tropical forest in the world, making it a global biodiversity hotspot and a key part of the global hydrological and carbon cycle. River levels are reported to be at their lowest levels in 120 years, threatening an estimated 30 million people living in the Amazon in several countries including Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia due to disruption of transport, isolation of communities and destruction of wildlife. .
The large river system provides a significant portion of the affected countries’ energy through hydropower: Brazil relies on hydropower for 80% of its electricity, Colombia 79%, Venezuela 68%, Ecuador and Peru 55%, and Bolivia 32% (USaids, 2018 ). The drought is significantly impacting dam capacity and energy production and has led to power outages in the region as early as June 2023.
Scientists from Brazil, the Netherlands, the UK and the US used peer-reviewed methods to assess whether and to what extent the drought was affected by climate change, as well as the occurrence of El Niño, which is known to be linked to drought in the Amazon. Although drought began earlier in the western basin, the entire basin experiences severe to exceptional drought in the second half of the year.
Meteorological drought considers only small amounts of precipitation, whereas agricultural drought combines estimates of precipitation with evapotranspiration. Increased evapotranspiration due to regional warming may play an important role in exacerbating the effects of drought.
“The main reason for the record drought of 2023 in the Brazilian Amazon region was climate change caused by human activities,” the report says. report.
According to scientists, the influence of the El Niño phenomenon on the weather in the Amazon basin turned out to be much weaker than experts expected.
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