One year after being hit by its worst drought ever recorded in the Amazon, Brazil is facing it all again. According to the National Center for Natural Disaster Monitoring, CEMADEN, the country is going through its worst drought since 2015, but now, it’s widespread in almost all regions. More than a third of Brazil — an area equivalent to the size of India — is facing drought at its worst. The situation is especially bad for Amazon rivers, which haven’t seen enough rain since 2013 and have reached historic lows. The Solimões River section in Tabatinga municipality, in the state of Amazonas, hit 94 centimeters (37 inches) below the station’s reference level. Previously, the lowest level recorded had been 86 cm (34 in) in 2010. The succession of dry periods is contributing to fire outbreaks (possibly triggered by criminal activity). So far in 2024, burned areas in the Amazon total an area equivalent to Costa Rica’s territory and larger than countries like Denmark and Belgium. In the state of Mato Grosso, where rivers feed basins in the Amazon, the Pantanal wetlands and the Cerrado savanna, the Paraguay and Cuiabá rivers have also reached historic lows. According to experts, the new crisis is fueled by the warming of the North Atlantic waters, responsible for diminishing the rains in northern Brazil and by climate change. “If we look at August, most of the rivers in the Amazon are at a lower level than last year, when the condition was the worst possible,”…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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