Scientists at the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group found in a new study, published on Wednesday, that climate change caused by humanity’s planet-heating carbon pollution was the main driver of the extreme Amazon drought.
They said in ther study that it had made the drought 30 times more likely from June to November 2023.
The historic agricultural drought affected millions of people across the Amazon basin, stoking huge wildfires, shrinking key waterways and taking a calamitous toll on wildlife.
Scientists fear that climate change and deforestation combined could intensify drying and warming in the Amazon.
The Amazon is estimated to store more than 100 billion tonnes of carbon in its trees and soils, over twice the worldwide annual emissions from all sources.
