Drought threatens Amazon basin (again)

The Guardian

But last year the worst drought in more than a century hit the Amazon basin, drying up tributaries more than a mile wide and prompting Brazil to declare a state of emergency across the entire region.

Tens of thousands were cut off as rivers that are the main means of transportation were turned into mudflats and grasslands, leaving boats stranded among millions of rotting fish on the baked mud.

Locals hoped the drought was a once-in-a-generation event, but already there are signs that the extreme conditions of last year are returning. In the Acre region close to Brazil's borders with Bolivia and Peru, where last year's drought began, sandbanks have started appearing in rivers which are normally larger than any of their European counterparts.

Such conditions usually occur only at the end of the dry season three months from now, but this year Acre went without rain for 40 days in June and early July, a circumstance almost unheard of. The government's technical foundation in Acre said the vegetation was so dry that there was a serious danger of forest fires.


Please visit the link provided for the complete story.