A new report by the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and the U.S. National Drought Mitigation Center has revealed the most widespread and damaging impacts of last year’s severe drought in the Amazon Basin, which affected hundreds of thousands of Amazonian people. According to the report, impeded transportation, drinking water shortages, aquatic wildlife deaths and wildfires were among the greatest challenges the communities faced. The 2023-24 drought led to the isolation of Indigenous communities that are dependent on waterways for transportation, food and income. This caused food insecurity and impacts on health, researchers say. “We are witnessing droughts that are more widespread, more frequent and more intense, and that compound with other risks like heat and fires,” Daniel Tsegai, a UNCCD program officer and drought expert, told Mongabay by email. “The fact that not even rainforests are spared from this emerging trend is of great concern and should be taken seriously to prevent human suffering, ecosystem destruction, and economic loss.” Environmental researchers consider the drought as “unprecedented” and “the most severe and widespread of the past century” in the Amazon region. In 2023, it led to a loss of 3.3 million hectares (8.1 million acres) of surface water in Brazil’s Amazon relative to 2022, while nine Amazonian countries experienced extremely high temperatures and their lowest rainfall in 40 years. Researchers attribute the drought to a combination of El Niño and human-induced climate change. Residents transport drinking water from Humaita to the Paraizinho community, along the dry Madeira River, a…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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