Sea level at the mouth of the river with the largest flow on Earth has risen 12.4 cm in three decades, eroding riverside territories and reshaping the local economy, according to an unpublished analysis. Intense rains and droughts in the Amazon are altering the interaction between the river’s mouth and the Atlantic Ocean, driving higher tides and coastal salinization. The effects of these changes are already visible in the availability of the species most commonly caught along the Amazon coast. They are also closely tied to deforestation on the continent: by 2050, a 45% reduction in forest cover could weaken the force with which the Amazon’s plume reaches the Atlantic.
Tag: Amazon River
Chemical products and deforestation modify Amazon River water
A study reveals that activities such as mining, deforestation and agriculture have altered the ecosystems and biodiversity of the waters of 149 major rivers throughout the world, putting entire populations at risk.
Amazon’s largest city dumps almost everything in the river
Jeane Moura da Silva, 34, is a member of the third generation of residents of Educandos Creek, in the south end of Manaus, the largest city in the Amazon region. She lives with her three daughters, husband and grandson in the same place where her grandmother was born and raised and where everyone in the […]
Murky Waters: Amazon Destruction Linked to the Largest Belt of Algae on the Planet
Scientists are examining why banks of sargassum in the Atlantic have proliferated explosively over the past decade, fouling the Caribbean and extending to the coast of Africa. Growing discharges of organic pollutants from the Amazon River are now believed to be a major cause.
Indigenous community takes hostages in an effort to draw attention to oil spill
A helicopter from Peru‘s Air Force that was helping to monitor the area has been stopped and held by a group of locals. There were food and fresh water aboard, meant to be distributed among the people of Mayuriaga.