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Parts of the Amazon rainforest are suffering through the worst droughts ever recorded, according to The Associated Press (AP).<\/a><\/p>\n Major rivers<\/a> are dwindling. Wildfires are burning out of control. And significant rain is not expected until October.<\/span><\/p>\n The drought has also enabled wildfires to devastate protected areas, spreading smoke across thousands of kilometers \u2014 visible from space<\/a> \u2014 and clouding skies as far away as Sao Paulo, a metro area of more than 20 million people near Brazil\u2019s southeastern coast.<\/span><\/p>\n In Brazil so far this year, an area the size of Italy has burned, AP reported.<\/span><\/p>\n The span and intensity of the drought has renewed fears that the world\u2019s largest tropical forest is close to reaching an ecological \u201ctipping point<\/a>\u201d at which it could irretrievably degrade into dry savanna.<\/span><\/p>\n Illegal clearing of the forest \u2014 chiefly to make way for agriculture \u2014 is one of the main causes of the fires, one conservationist says.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe forest used to be able to resist those fires,\u201d said Rachel Biderman, who is based in Brazil and leads Conservation International\u2019s work in South America. \u201cNow, because of climate change, because of continued degradation of the forest, and because it’s the second year of drought in a row, the forest became so, so dry that it’s catching fire as it wouldn’t before.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n It is not the first time in recent years that Amazonian droughts and wildfires have made headlines \u2014 human-made fires ravaged the region in 2019<\/a>. But this drought is different, experts say.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis is the first time that a drought has covered all the way from [Brazil\u2019s] north to the country’s southeast,\u201d Ana Paula Cunha, a researcher at the Brazilian National Center for Monitoring and Early Warning of Natural Disasters, said in a statement last week, according to the AP. \u201cIt is the most intense and widespread drought in history.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The drought\u2019s effects are being felt across South America, from Brazil to Bolivia, which last week declared a state of emergency<\/a>. In neighboring Paraguay, the country\u2019s namesake river, which moves 80 percent of its international commerce, was measured at its lowest level in over a century \u2014 bringing boat traffic to a near-standstill, AP reported.<\/span><\/p>\n The drought is punishing rural and Indigenous communities across the region.<\/span><\/p>\n Plummeting river levels have stranded many communities that are accessible only by water, AP reported, and a lack of potable water has led to a surge in illnesses.<\/span><\/p>\n In addition, Conservation International staff in the Brazilian state of Acre noted that lower water levels are causing river temperatures to rise, leading fish to die off \u2014 an increasingly fraught situation given that river fish are a critical source of food for local communities. So far, intact forests appear to be faring better than areas along the forest frontiers,<\/a> where the majority of the fires have been detected. Poor air quality from the fires, ironically, is hampering efforts to protect the forests, with Conservation International staff in Bolivia electing to halt field visits as a result.<\/span><\/p>\n The crisis, conservationists say, has a multitude of causes \u2014 simple economics among them.<\/p>\n \u201cThis crisis is the result of a complicated combination of three factors,\u201d said Eduardo Forno, who leads Conservation International\u2019s work in Bolivia. \u201cFirst, climate change has produced a deep drought, which will last for more than a year. Second, public policies in Bolivia: To secure land tenure, you have no choice but to deforest. Third, the value of land is on the rise, and non-productive actors are advancing on it as an asset for savings or land trafficking.\u201d<\/p>\n One solution, experts say, is to work closely with Indigenous groups, particularly in funding the protection of their lands. Despite their crucial role in conserving nature, Indigenous Peoples receive a mere <\/span>1 percent<\/a> of global funding for climate and biodiversity.<\/span><\/p>\n This financing is critical for enabling Indigenous communities in the Amazon to protect their territories, which are often difficult to access and have limited government presence. In addition, financing is critical for establishing economic alternatives for communities that have seen a trend of migration to cities, experts say.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe work with these communities to identify economic alternatives so that they can stay in the Amazon and not migrate to the cities \u2014 there’s a huge migration trend from the Amazon into the big cities because of poverty,\u201d Biderman said. \u201cAnd those who do stay in the Amazon need economic sustenance, so that\u2019s what we are focused on.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe urgently need finance to support the livelihoods of those communities that protect the forests.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Bruno Vander Velde is the managing director of content at Conservation International. Want to read more stories like this? Sign up for email updates<\/a>. Also, please consider supporting our critical work<\/a>. \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\u2018Intense and widespread\u2019<\/span><\/h3>\n
Indigenous communities badly affected<\/span><\/h3>\n
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