Amazon rainforest sees worst drought ever, study implicates Global warming

The main cause of the unprecedented drought in the Amazon rainforest last year, which led to dried up rivers, essential supply deliveries to river communities, and the deaths of endangered dolphins, was found to be climate change rather than El Nino, according to scientists.

A report published by World Weather Attribution, an international group of scientists, revealed that human-induced global warming was depleting water sources in the largest rainforest in the world, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of endangered dolphins and the isolation of millions of people who depend on the region’s waterways for sustenance, transportation, and livelihood.

According to scientists, global warming caused by the burning of fossil fuels had made drought 30 times more likely, producing the extreme temperatures that have caused water levels to slump to their lowest points on record.

The effects of climate change on the region are twofold, reducing rainfall, but also producing hotter conditions that evaporate moisture from plants and soil, increasing the severity of the drought.

All nine Amazon rainforest countries – including Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela and Peru – have been hit by the drought, which is expected to get worse after the end of the rainy season in May.

Researchers in Brazil said the low water levels killed at least 178 of the Amazon’s endangered pink and grey river dolphins last year. Thousands of fish have died due to low oxygen levels in the tributaries.

Scientists have said the drought could worsen forest fires, which when coupled with climate change and deforestation could push the Amazon more quickly towards a point of no return after which the biome dries out and ceases to be lush rainforest.