<
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/the-uncertain-future-of-amazon-river-dolphins-amid-historic-drought/>
"TEFÉ, Amazonas — “I’ve lived on this floating home for 40 years, and this is
the worst drought I’ve ever seen. You can see that the water dropped well below
the 2023 levels,” says Carlos Magno, as he shows the point reached by the water
last year. “That’s a scary scenario to watch. And it gets even scarier because
of the news that this is going to get worse every year.”
Magno is a boat mechanic and lives on a floating house on the water, usually
built of wood or metal, on the shores of Lake Tefé, in the municipality of the
same name located in the heart of Amazonas state. While he and his family love
living by the lake, where they are surrounded by water, forest and animals,
they are now considering moving to dry land because of increasingly severe
droughts.
“The floating house is already completely on land. Take a look here to see how
much the water level has dropped. This drought is almost 30 days longer; it
usually doesn’t get to this point,” he says, worried. The water needs to rise
so Magno can get back to work. Because of low river and lake levels, boats stop
traveling and he loses clients. He has had no work for two months now.
Lake Tefé, a lagoon formation of the Tefé River near the point where it meets
the Solimões, has been experiencing a historic drought this year, reaching just
4.5 meters (14.9 feet) — 13.5 m (44 ft) below its June level, at the beginning
of the dry season, when it was 18 m (59 ft) deep (see graph below). In addition
to the drastic reduction, the remaining water recorded extremely high
temperatures, reaching 40.3º Celsius (104.5° Fahrenheit), the same as in 2023,
according to data from the Mamirauá Institute for Sustainable Development
(IDSM).
Throughout the Amazon, 69% of municipalities have been recording drought rates
that are even more intense than those of 2023 — a 56% increase over the same
period last year, according to the Integrated Drought Index (IIS). In Amazonas,
the state government’s 2024 Drought Bulletin indicates that another 850,000
people were impacted by lower water levels, and all 62 municipalities are in a
state of emergency. According to the Geological Survey of Brazil, the situation
could become worse by December."
Via Susan ****
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
