Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Artigo Acesso aberto Produção Nacional Revisado por pares

BIBTEX RIS

Severe droughts reduce river navigability and isolate communities in the Brazilian Amazon

2024; Nature Portfolio; Volume: 5; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1038/s43247-024-01530-4

2662-4435

Letícia Santos de Lima, Francisco Eustáquio Oliveira e Silva, Paula Rosana Dorio Anastácio, Marina Marcela de Paula Kolanski, Ana Carolina Pires Pereira, Marianne Stéfany Resende Menezes, Evandro Cunha, Márcia N. Macedo,

Climate change impacts on agriculture

Abstract The Amazon basin is experiencing severe droughts that are expected to worsen with climate change. Riverine communities are especially vulnerable to these extreme events. This study investigates the experiences of Brazilian Amazonian communities during droughts occurring from 2000-2020. We assess the distribution of settlements at risk of prolonged isolation during extreme low-water periods, along with impacts reported in digital news outlets. Using historic time series of river levels from 90 gauges, we look at how long droughts lasted in regions with reported impacts. Results indicate that the droughts in 2005, 2010, and 2016 were the most severe, with over an additional month of low water levels in those years. Such drought events routinely disrupt inland water transport and isolate local populations, limiting access to essential goods (food, fuel, medicine) and basic services (healthcare, education). Given this new reality, Amazon countries must develop long-term strategies for mitigation, adaptation, and disaster response.