Rio de Janeiro, March 1 (BUS): Scientists have long been warning that extreme weather could spell disaster in the future. But in South America, which only last month, has seen deadly landslides in Brazil, wetland wildfires in Argentina, and severe floods in the Amazon decimating crops.
In just three hours on February 15, Petropolis, nestled in the forested mountains above Rio de Janeiro, received more than 10 inches of rain, more than in any single day since authorities began keeping records in 1932. The landslides have caused That was followed by the swallowing of souls. More than 200 people were left and nearly 1,000 were left homeless.
Global warming is altering the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events, such as El Nino and La Nina, and the natural heating and cooling of parts of the Pacific is changing weather patterns around the world. These events have also become more and more difficult to predict, causing additional damage to the report.
“Climate change is expected to transform the current risks in the region into severe major risks,” the report said.
Until 2020, there was plenty of water in swamps, stagnant lakes, and lagoons in Argentina’s Ibera Wetland, one of the world’s largest ecosystems. But the historic drought on the Paraná River dried up much of it. Its waters have been at their lowest level since 1944. Since January, it has been the scene of raging fires.
And this week, 70% of the remote city of Jordão in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest was inundated by two rivers overflowing. It shattered the lives of thousands of people in the area, including 32 Aboriginal communities.
Central and South America is the second most urbanized region in the world after North America, with 81% of its population living within cities.
According to Carlos Nobre, a prominent Brazilian climate scientist who has studied the biome for several decades, the entire Amazon rainforest stores between 150 and 200 billion tons of carbon in its plants and soil.
“It’s a huge tank,” Nobre told The Associated Press by phone. “If the forest is lost, carbon dioxide, which is a major greenhouse gas, goes into the atmosphere. It is very important to preserve the forest.”
But most governments across the region have failed to heed the IPCC’s warnings and halt the destruction. Several South American leaders have been silent about illegal logging and mining activities in sensitive areas. Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, has gone further, encouraging it with his words and weakening environmental agencies and regulations.
In fact, local prosecutors and police said the area is increasingly dependent on activists for its preservation, either to prevent deforestation that leads to drastic changes in the climate or to deal with the consequences of environmental degradation.
Alejandra Pollocki, 54, runs a private nature reserve in Argentina’s Ibera wetlands and helps firefighters wage their desperate war against the flames.
They, along with many other animals, found temporary sanctuary in a nearby lake that dried up due to lack of rain and has since been artificially refilled with solar water pumps.
Local authorities attributed the fires to the burning of pastures to raise livestock, which has been banned since December. In the report, experts from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stress that drought provides the basis for the rapidly spreading fires.
This week, with most of the Amazonian city of Jordão submerged, indigenous leader and forest ranger Joseas Kachinawa is working to provide any possible support to dozens of communities. He spent every Wednesday saving people and their belongings using his small outboard motor boat.
This is in line with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, which says that changes in the timing and volume of precipitation, along with temperature extremes, are affecting agricultural production across Central and South America.
The Acre state government said at least 76 families have lost their homes in and around Jordaw, most of them indigenous people and now living in a local shelter. But Mayor Naudo Ribeiro admitted that the number had been underestimated.
“This was very fast. There is no way to prepare when something like this happens,” Ribeiro told local media.
“This was totally unexpected,” Bontempo said. “No one can predict rain like this.”
The IPCC report notes that such events will continue to destabilize the region.
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