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Drought Turns Amazonian Capital Into Climate Dystopia
October 11th, 2024
Via The Guardian, an article on the serious impact of drought on Manaus: A withering drought has turned the Amazonian capital of Manaus into a climate dystopia with the second worst air quality in the world and rivers at the lowest levels in 121 years. The city of 1 million people, which is surrounded by […]
Read more »Stark Before-and-After Photos Reveal Dramatic Shrinking of Major Amazon Rivers
September 30th, 2024
Via CNN, stark before-and-after pictures reveal dramatic shrinking of major Amazon rivers Huge tributaries that feed the mighty Amazon River — the largest on the planet — have plunged to record-low levels, upending lives, stranding boats, and threatening endangered dolphins as drought grips Brazil. The country is currently enduring its worst drought since records began in 1950, […]
Read more »Amazon: A River In Flux
March 31st, 2024
Via Inside Climate News, a report on the Amazon River, where extreme flooding and droughts may be the new norm, challenging its people and ecosystems: Jochen Schöngart darts back and forth along an escarpment just above the Amazon River, a short water taxi ride from downtown Manaus, Brazil. It’s still early this October morning in […]
Read more »Brazil-Bolivia Dam Reignites Debates on Hydropower in the Amazon
February 3rd, 2024
Via Diálogo Chino, a look at how communities have pushed back on a proposed Ribeirão dam, a joint initiative by Brazil and Bolivia on the Madeira River, decrying dams’ impacts and seeking alternatives in solar: On a hot August day in the city of Guajará-Mirim, in Brazil’s Rondônia state, more than 140 people packed into a […]
Read more »Damming or Damning the Amazon: Assessing Ecuador / China Cooperation
November 24th, 2017
Via Mongabay, an article on Ecuador’s partnership with China and what it may mean for rivers in the Amazon: In 2008, Ecuador, led by President Rafael Correa, approved a new constitution based upon Buen Vivr (the ”Good Life”), committing the nation to indigenous rights, environmental sustainability and state sovereignty. However, Correa quickly aligned the nation […]
Read more »Groundwater, Geopolitics, and the Guaranà Aquifer
December 8th, 2009
Via Water Wired, a note that the current issue of Stygoscape focuses on the Guaranà aquifer – one of the largest reservoirs of groundwater in the world which is shared by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Current water storage is estimated to range between 37,000 to 55,000 km3 by various workers, a natural recharge of […]
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