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since september, droughts in many parts of brazil have repeatedly become the focus of local media reports:

• on the 13th, several cities in minas gerais, southeastern brazil, had no rainfall in the past 158 ​​days, and the famous tourist attraction bom des pacho waterfall had dried up;
• on the 12th, due to serious forest fires, many places in sao paulo, brazil's largest city, were shrouded in smoke. among dozens of areas in the city, only two met the "good air" standard. the number of people seeking medical treatment for respiratory infections increased significantly.
• on the 11th, in the western state of mato grosso do sul, large areas of jaguar habitats were burned, and an 8-year-old jaguar died from burns on his limbs and smoke inhalation in his lungs.
• on the 8th, the brazilian national meteorological institute released a report saying that about 200 cities in the country are as dry as or even dryer than the sahara desert in africa, and the drought situation in the future may be more serious;
• …………

since 2024, severe droughts across brazil have caused the water levels of many major rivers in the country to drop, frequent wildfires in many places, serious environmental pollution, and reduced crop yields.the amazon rainforest, known as the "lungs of the earth", and the pantanal wetlands, the world's largest wetland, have both been affected.

in response to the drought, governments at all levels in brazil have taken active measures.reporterin recent years, brazil has suffered from droughts many times. to avoid similar situations,it is necessary for the government to continue to strictly enforce environmental laws and protect ecological conservation areas such as the amazon rainforest, and increase efforts to crack down on environmental violations and crimes.

more than 70% of cities in china are experiencing drought due to various reasons

brazil's national center for natural disaster monitoring and early warning released a report in early september saying that in august this year, more than 3,900 cities in the country experienced moderate to severe drought, which meansmore than 70% of brazilian cities are facing drought。

the report pointed out that this round of drought, which began in 2023 and lasted in 2024, is the most severe in 70 years and affects almost all parts of the country, especially the amazon rainforest in the north, the pantanal wetlands in the central and western parts, and the southeastern state of sao paulo.

the report also said that higher-than-usual atlantic surface temperatures could delay the arrival of the rainy season, exacerbating the current drought in brazil.

analysis points out that the severe drought in brazil is related to multiple reasons such as climate warming and the el nino phenomenon. renato senna, a researcher at the brazilian amazon environmental institute, believes that the el nino phenomenon that began in july last year, coupled with the warming of the tropical waters of the north atlantic, has continued to affect brazil's climate in the first half of this year. these have changed the atmospheric circulation path and even prevented the formation of rain clouds in certain areas, resulting in a significant drop in rainfall in places such as the amazon rainforest. renato believes that the future situation is not optimistic.brazil's drought may not show signs of easing before 2025.

suli araujo, former director of the brazilian environment and renewable resources agency and public policy expert at the environmental organization climate observatory, said:reporterhe said that the recent severe drought in brazil is the result of the interaction between climate change and human destruction of the natural environment. araujo said that in the context of global warming, human activities have destroyed ecological zones such as the amazon rainforest, which will weaken the latter's role in regulating brazil's climate and humidity. therefore, once a drought occurs in the rainforest, droughts in other places will also worsen.

amazon rainforest, the "lungs of the earth", is experiencing a drought that is rare in nearly 40 years

according to data released by the brazilian national space research institute in early september, a total of 10,328 fires occurred in the amazon state of brazil in august this year, the highest number ever recorded by the agency. a report jointly released by the brazilian amazon environmental research institute and other institutions showed that in august this year, the area of ​​the amazon rainforest burned in brazil increased by 54% year-on-year. among them, the area of ​​virgin forest burned exceeded 685,000 hectares, a year-on-year increase of 132%; 1.11 million hectares of agricultural planting areas were burned, a year-on-year increase of 38%. the area of ​​virgin forest burned accounted for 34% of the area destroyed in the amazon rainforest that month, higher than 12% in 2019, the highest record in the past five years.

analysts believe that the increase in the area of ​​​​primeval forest burned indicates that the climate environment of the amazon rainforest is changing. the original forest area, which was previously considered to be very humid, has suffered more fires due to drought and high temperatures.

at the same time,the rare drought has also had a negative impact on the lives of residents and economic production in many parts of the state.the amazon state civil defense department said in early september that all 62 cities in the state were in a state of emergency due to drought, affecting more than 330,000 people. victims in some areas were facing difficulties such as lack of water and food.

many brazilian hydroelectric power stations are concentrated in the amazon rainforest in the north, and the decline in water levels of many rivers caused by the local drought has caused a decline in the power generation capacity of hydroelectric power stations, which has forced some brazilian power companies to start fuel-fired power generation, which has led to increased power generation costs. for example, the madeira river, one of the main rivers flowing through the amazon, dropped to 0.71 meters on september 10, causing the power generation capacity of the san antonio hydroelectric power plant to be only 14% of normal years.

in manaus, the capital of amazonas state, brazil's largest electronics manufacturing center, which mainly relies on inland waterways to transport parts and products, is facing difficulties in logistics and transportation. the water level of the negro river, on which it relies for shipping, dropped by more than 2.5 meters in the first 11 days of september, raising concerns about rising production costs and price increases for electronic products. in 2023, the water level of the negro river dropped severely due to drought, which caused the production costs of local companies to increase by 1.4 billion reais (about 1.785 billion yuan).

in addition, frequent forest fires have caused serious air pollution in several cities such as manaus and apui.

severe drought and fires hit world's largest wetland

the pantanal, the world's largest wetland located in central-western brazil, is also facing severe drought and fires.marina silva, brazil's minister of environment and climate change, recently warned that if global warming is not curbed, brazil will lose the pantanal wetlands forever by the end of this century.

reporterduring an on-site interview not long ago, i learned that the protection and restoration of the pantanal wetlands depends largely on the rising water levels of rivers such as the paraguay river. if most of the wetlands are covered by rising river water, human animal husbandry, agriculture and other activities will be restricted, and the frequency of fires will be greatly reduced.

however, severe drought has caused the water level of the paraguay river to drop significantly. data released by the brazilian geological survey in early september showed that some water level measurement points along the paraguay river in brazil have reached historic negative values. in the more than 1,600 kilometers of river channels in brazil, there are 21 scales measuring the water level of the paraguay river, of which 18 measurement points have water levels lower than the expected values ​​for this season, and the water levels at the other three measurement points are negative. among these places with negative water levels, the water level at the measurement point in radario, mato grosso do sul, is -0.25 meters, while the expected water level in september every year is 3.53 meters.

arthur matos, national coordinator of the hydrological early warning system of the brazilian geological survey, said that the negative water level at the paraguay river water level measurement point does not mean that the river has dried up (the river bottom height is not consistent with the 0-meter scale on the measuring ruler), but by comparing the actual water level measured with the expected water level, the extent of the water level drop can be seen. arthur said that as the water level of the paraguay river gradually decreases this year, the severity of the drought in the pantanal may be close to the two severe droughts in 1964 and 2021. if the pantanal still cannot usher in rainfall in the coming period, the situation may be worse.

the water level of the paraguay river has dropped significantly, making it more difficult to transport iron ore, soybeans, beef and other materials from the pantanal region by river transport. recently, the brazilian ministry of national transport infrastructure stated that 18 crossings on the paraguay river have entered an "emergency state" and another 15 crossings are "at risk of entering an emergency state." in order to improve traffic efficiency, some ships have to reduce their load or change shipping routes.

the severe drought also led to serious fires in the pantanal wetlands. as of early september, the fires in the wetlands had been burning for three months, and more than 2.6 million hectares of vegetation had been burned, accounting for 18% of the total wetland area in brazil. the fires burned a large number of animal and plant resources. in the first ten days of september alone, 736 new fires occurred in the pantanal, twice as many as in the same period last year.

in addition, the severe drought has caused water shortages in many cities in mato grosso and mato grosso do sul states in brazil, reduced operating capacity of some hydroelectric power station units, and had a negative impact on the local fishing and tourism industries.

brazilian president: seriously respond to disasters, protect the ecology and ensure the interests of the people

on september 10, local time, brazilian president lula said when meeting with mayors of 62 cities in the amazon rainforest region:amazon rainforest faces worst drought in 40 yearsthe government is seriously responding to drought and fires to ensure that the quality of life of people in the region is improved while protecting the rainforest. lula also said that many of the recent fires in many parts of brazil were arson, which is a criminal act.

to cope with the drought in the amazon rainforest, the brazilian government decided to invest 500 million reais (about 637 million yuan) to dredge several rivers in the amazon basin affected by the drop in water levels, provide 494 million reais (about 630 million yuan) in subsidies to 656,000 affected households in amazon state, and increase financial funds for responding to forest fires in 2024 to 110 million reais (about 140 million yuan) to strengthen environmental law enforcement.

at the same time, the brazilian government set up a working group consisting of more than a dozen ministries to focus on responding to drought and fires in the amazon rainforest and pantanal wetlands. under the leadership of the brazilian ministry of environment and climate change, it dispatched more than 2,000 firefighters to these two regions and invested a large amount of firefighting materials and equipment.

in addition, many local governments in brazil have also taken active response measures. to solve the water shortage problem, the sao paulo state government has invested 144 million reais (about 184 million yuan) in the construction of groundwater projects, and plans to build two new dams for the hard-hit city of campinas, with a water storage capacity of 85 billion cubic meters. in amazonas state, the local government has implemented an emergency plan to provide medicines, drinking water and other humanitarian relief supplies to the affected residents on a regular basis.

araujoreporterhe said that brazil has experienced several serious droughts and fires in recent years, which is enough to prove that it is necessary to strengthen the coordination between the federal government and state governments at the law enforcement level, and to implement some prevention-oriented policies to reduce the probability of disasters. at the same time, considering that there are many cases of arson in brazil, it is necessary to increase the penalties for environmental violations and crimes. (reporter lei xiangping)

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