Extreme Drought, Wildfire Smoke Leave Populations Stranded in Brazil’s Amazon

With low water levels, no road access, and airports closing due to smoke, Manaus residents say the economic and health consequences are devastating.

Smoke billows from a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest near Porto Velho, Rondonia State, Brazil, on Sept. 10, 2019. Bruno Kelly/Reuters

A combination of drought and risky farming practices has created survival challenges for residents in the state of Amazonas in Brazil.

In some cases, entire communities have been cut off from commerce, water, and health care by severely low river levels, according to locals. A heavy blanket of smoke across the region is also affecting airport operations and sparking health concerns.

Solving wildfires and deforestation in the vast Amazonian wilderness has for years alternated between a campaign slogan and a constant battle for officials.

Rivers are an integral mode of transportation in Brazil since there are few roads that connect the east of the country with the more densely forested regions in the west.

Some remote areas have no roads and rely on a sprawling network of rivers. This is especially true in Amazonas, where locals are paying high prices to import essential items from eastern cities because of the critically low water levels.

Beneath a dull gray sky in Manaus, a city of roughly 2 million and the capital of Amazonas, local resident Jonathan Benchimol clears his throat before speaking.

“What we’re seeing is the systemic condition of lower water levels year after year,” he told The Epoch Times.

Historically, the Amazon experiences annual wet and dry seasons. Because Brazil is a country with a great deal of arable land, working with these seasons has allowed Brazilian farmers to transform the nation into a top producer of agricultural products and a major net exporter of those goods, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

But since the mid-2000s, the South American giant has pivoted away from strictly tropical exports such as coffee, sugar, and citrus fruits in favor of major commodities such as soybeans, grains, and beef.

With these expanded operations came the need to clear more land, which took the traditional practice of slash-and-burn farming to a whole new level.

While environmentalists criticize such practices, locals say the average farmer in Brazil can’t afford the time or machinery needed to clear forested land more responsibly.

Researchers at Belgian Earth Observation noted that since 1970, Brazil has lost 72 million hectares to deforestation—an area larger than France.

Slash-and-burn land clearing continues as it has for decades, but locals say it has become increasingly unsustainable as Brazil’s dry seasons get longer and drier.

In 2021, NASA reported Brazil was experiencing its worst drought in nearly a century. At the time, local media reports stated that the water levels of critical waterways like the Parana River were 30 feet lower than normal.

An analysis published in Science Direct on Sept. 1 concluded that overly arid conditions have affected Brazil more frequently in recent years. The study authors stated that between 2011 and 2019, Brazil suffered the most “severe and intense drought in the last 60 years.”

In 2023, the Wildlife Conservation Society and environmental journalism group Mongabay reported the Brazilian Amazon was experiencing its worst drought in recorded history. That benchmark was surpassed in March of this year, according to a local report that quoted government officials as saying 2024 is the worst drought on record.

“What we’re seeing now is you’ll start the dry season next year with a lower water base due to drought,“ Benchimol said. ”The high water season isn’t able to replenish the rivers to [their] natural high water situation, as in the past.”

He said the economic consequences of this are brutal.

A shell of a car with text that reads in Portuguese: "Welcome to the desert of Cantareira," on the banks of the Atibainha reservoir, part of the Cantareira System, which provides water to the town of Nazaré Paulista in São Paulo state, Brazil. Victor Moriyama/Getty Images

Because of the unusually low river levels, large container ships can’t access certain freshwater ports during the dry season. Even Manaus, the largest city in the Amazon, had to relocate its historic port to deeper water.

Benchimol said that because of the added work and the elevated risk of running ships aground, companies are charging a fee of up to $5,700 per shipping container to bring supplies into the city.

Consequently, the prices of food, health care items, machinery, and clothing have risen drastically.

Domino Effect

Tucked away in the heart of the jungle, Manaus is a major manufacturing hub that hosts international companies like Samsung, LG, Honda, Whirlpool, and Proctor & Gamble.

The industrial sector of Manaus provides more than 100,000 jobs in a city of roughly 2.3 million, according to the Inter-American Development Bank. Yet even tax incentives offered through a free trade zone agreement with the city may not be enough to entice big companies to stay if river levels remain low for longer periods of time.

Belisario Arce, executive director of Pan Amazonia, said the higher cost of imports due to low water levels is just one side of the coin.

“If next year we have the same situation, international companies based in Manaus will stop operations and move elsewhere due to logistics,” Arce told The Epoch Times.

Arce said major companies may consider pulling out of Manaus to offset the price hikes from shipping companies they’re forced to absorb.

Arce noted that production at the Honda plant stopped for an entire month because of low water levels.

He believes that much of Brazil’s ongoing drought is caused by the effects of El Niño, which is known to have a long-lasting, cyclical effect on weather and climate. At the end of the day, Arce said, it’s the outcome more than the origin that matters.

“The rivers and the lakes are very dry and very low. It’s impacting the life of the people and the transportation of goods,” he said. “That’s what is really affecting life in the Amazon region, especially the cost of living. Everything becomes more expensive because of the cost of transportation.”

Where There’s Smoke

The heavy blanket of wildfire smoke currently draped across the state of Amazonas not only brings health concerns but also affects airport operations, causing delays and flight cancellations due to poor ground visibility.

During a recent trip from Manaus to Guyana in a small plane that flew at about 7,000 feet, Arce noticed nothing but smoke on the first leg of his journey, which stopped at Boa Vista in the northern state of Roraima. He said it was strange not to see any fire, just smoke as far as the eye could see.

“The smoke was reaching Boa Vista, but I saw no fires,” Arce said. The smoke canopy stretched over a distance of about 500 miles.

In August, Brazilian Ministry of Health official Agnes Soares said in a statement that her office has been addressing health concerns caused by the compounding effect of extreme drought and wildfire smoke by establishing a “coordinated management mechanism with the aim of preventing and responding to climate emergencies.”

Prolonged exposure to wildfire smoke can have serious physical outcomes ranging from respiratory illnesses to heart failure, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

An aerial view shows a house destroyed by a fire in the surroundings of the SP-330 highway in Ribeirao Preto, Sao Paulo state, Brazil, on Aug. 25, 2024.

Meanwhile, Benchimol said residents are already suffering.

“People are breathing those particulates that are in the air. The body can’t filter them,” he said.

“Currently, we have some small villages and cities where no boats can reach them. Most of them receive supplies from boats, so if they need oxygen for the hospital or there’s another issue, it’s not possible [to help].”

Low water levels have also created an unthinkable situation in the world’s largest rainforest: towns that don’t have enough water to survive the dry season.

“Some communities are having problems collecting water from the river,“ Benchimol said. “The government is trying to help the stranded population, but resources are stretched thin.”

NASA research suggests wildfire smoke exacerbates drought conditions by reducing the chance of rain. It also makes the air drier, accelerating evaporation in water-starved river beds.

Benchimol said doctors in Manaus recommend locals wear an N95 mask outdoors when possible. Locals have also become creative at managing the air quality inside their homes by putting out bowls of water to increase humidity and placing a wet cloth in the gaps of door and window frames to block the smoke.

He also said popular “feel good” approaches to solving the complex problems in the Brazilian Amazon will likely take years to make a difference in the best-case scenario. But for now, Benchimol said the people of Amazonas will have to “learn how to cope.”

With two more dry months ahead, Arce said not to expect help from government officials.

Like Benchimol, Arce believes the inevitable rainy season will provide the only chance of relief.

At the moment, Arce said people can walk across the famously deep, swift current of Rio Negro in some places. Parts of the river bottom in front of Manaus were visible for the first time in history last year.

“Let us hope nature can solve the problem,” Benchimol said.