Climate change was the chief driver of the devastating drought that gripped the Amazon last year, say researchers, as warming threatens one of the world’s most important ecosystems for stabilizing the global climate.
Climate change was the chief driver of the devastating drought that gripped the Amazon last year, say researchers, as warming threatens one of the world’s most important ecosystems for stabilizing the global climate.
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.
Some experts have suggested that the arrival of the naturally occurring El Niño weather phenomenon was behind the tinderbox conditions.
But a new study from scientists at the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group, published Wednesday, found that climate change caused by humanity’s planet-heating carbon pollution was the main culprit. They said it had made the drought 30 times more likely from June to November 2023.
And they warned that the situation would only get worse as the climate warms, pushing the Amazon towards a climate « tipping point ».
Scientists fear that climate change and deforestation combined could intensify drying and warming in the Amazon.
