Recently, the Brazilian Federal Senate website shared a study that reveals global warming as the main cause of the record drought recorded in the Amazon rainforest in the second half of last year, conducted by World Weather Attribution, an NGO that studies the causes and effects of extreme weather events.
The consortium of scientists from Brazil, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and the United States analyzed the impact of climate change and the “El Niño” phenomenon, which warms the waters of the Pacific Ocean, slows the advance of cold fronts and reduces rainfall in the North and Northeast of the country.
The conclusion was that the extreme and prolonged increase in temperature was mainly due to climate change, although the role of “El Niño” was also highlighted. According to the research, 75 percent of the influence would be from global warming, compared to only 25% of El Niño.
Thus, climate change produced by human action was the main factor responsible for the worst drought in the Amazon rainforest in at least half a century.
“The strong drought trend has been caused almost entirely by rising global temperature, hence the severe drought we are currently facing is largely due to climate change”, states one of the main findings of the study.
As a solution, there is only one, to take care of our natural heritage. In other words, reducing deforestation and promoting the restoration of degraded forests are the most important measures to fight climate change in Brazil.
The drought has affected millions of people throughout the Amazon basin, it has caused large wildfires, caused massive forest fires, reduced major water courses and wreaked havoc on wildlife.
Disclosed by Secom -AM