More than 420,000 children in the Amazon basin are being severely affected by drought that has struck much of South America, affecting water supplies and river transport, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Wednesday.
The United Nations organization said that the unprecedented drought is negatively affecting indigenous and other communities in Brazil, Colombia and Peru that depend on boat trips.
“We are witnessing the destruction of the essential ecosystem on which families depend, leaving many children without access to adequate food, water, health care and schools,” UNICEF President Catherine Russell said in a statement.
The resulting food insecurity increases the risk of malnutrition in children, while less access to drinking water can lead to a rise in infectious diseases, the agency said.
In the Amazon region of Brazil alone, more than 1,700 schools and more than 760 medical clinics were forced to close or became inaccessible due to falling river levels.
In Colombia’s Amazon region, lack of drinking water and food forced 130 schools to suspend classes. In Peru, more than 50 clinics were inaccessible.
UNICEF said it needs $10 million in the coming months to help stricken communities in those three countries, including providing water and sending health teams.
Weather monitoring agencies, such as NASA’s Earth Observatory and the European Union’s Copernicus Service, say drought across the Amazon Basin since the latter half of last year was caused by the 2023-2024 El Niño climate phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean.
Brazilian experts said the climate crisis was also to blame.
Insufficient rainfall and shrinking vital rainforest rivers have exacerbated forest fires, disrupted hydropower generation and dried up crops in parts of Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela.
RMB-RSR/DES
