Climate Change Main Culprit for Record Drought in the Amazon Rainforest

(Patria) - The Amazon River has fallen to its lowest levels in 120 years.

In the local Lake Tefe, dozens of dolphins have died, and due to dried-up waterways, millions of local communities faced failed harvests and shortages of both drinking water and electricity, reports the Klima101 portal.

Scientists reveal that the main culprit for the devastating scenes in the Amazon is climate change, caused by the burning of fossil fuels, as reported by Danas.rs.

Studying events from June to November last year, researchers calculated that global warming made the drought in the Amazon rainforest 30 times more likely, by causing extreme temperatures that led to record low water levels.

In the Amazon River basin, climate change not only reduces the amount of rainfall but also results in warmer weather conditions that cause moisture from plants and soil to evaporate, thus leading to more severe droughts.

In June 2023, the natural El Niño phenomenon developed, which warms tropical parts of the Pacific but has a spatially broader impact on the climate. Its influence reaches the Amazon as well, but in last year's analyzed drought, El Niño did not play a decisive role.

Despite El Niño contributing to reduced rainfall in the Amazon rainforest roughly as much as climate change, the strong drying trend is attributed almost entirely to rising global temperatures.

All nine countries that share the Amazon, including Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela, have been affected by the drought, which could worsen further after the rainy season, which ends in May.

If the world does not urgently stop burning fossil fuels and deforestation, droughts in the Amazon rainforest will become even more frequent on an increasingly warmer planet, scientists warn.