One of the most important rivers in South America has dried up, and scientists blame climate change. The Paraná River and associated aquifers provide water for 40 million people in Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina. It provides fish protein, fertile land for crops, and the navigability of a major grain export hub”. The drought is harming the ability of the Yacyretá hydroelectric plant to provide power for Argentina and Paraguay. The watershed provides a habitat for many species, though sapiens has destroyed a significant amount over the decades.
All food exports from Argentina have stopped due to the crisis.
Victor Caivano and Almudena Calatrava write for the AP:
The low water level is due to a record drought in Brazil, where the river begins.
The midwestern and southern regions of Brazil are in a big water crisis. Water reservoirs, including the giant Itaipu dam, are at their lowest levels in 91 years and Brazilian authorities have issued an emergency alert for five states: Minas Gerais, Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, São Paulo and Paraná.
Reduced water levels are part of a natural cycle, but specialists warn that the scenario is more extreme because of climate change.
Deforestation for beef and soybeans is a major player in the drought plaguing Amazonia and the Pantanal ( a vast wetland in Brazil also shows acute stress from the drought ). The drought is the most intense in over eighty years of record keeping.
The Paraná River flows almost 3,000 miles making it the second-largest river in South America. Its river delta provides recreational activities for Buenas Aries, which is only 10 miles away. The river is named after the Tupi language word “as big as the sea.”
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The Argentine provinces of Formosa, Chaco, Corrientes, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, Misiones and Buenos Aires are in a water emergency until at least the end of September.
The region suffers from the effects of the biggest drought in the Paraná River in more than 70 years. The crisis mainly affects the port of Rosário, through which no less than 80% of Argentine exports usually flow.
The situation is even more painful because the climatic impact is taking place at a time when the country is experiencing a record soybean harvest. This season, Argentina produced 38.7 million tons, according to the Rosario Stock Exchange, favored by the rising price of the product, which reached US$ 600 (R$ 3,125) per ton, considering the price of the grain on the Exchange from Chicago.
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Environmentalists are also concerned about the situation. “We are witnessing an authentic environmental holocaust. This is the direct result of a series of interventions linked to the expansion of angro-industrial extractivism”, says Rafael Colombo, from the Argentinean association of environmental lawyers.
“The Paraná-Paraguay waterway, due to its overload and climate change, is witnessing the deterioration of the region’s forests, jungle and soil, which no longer absorbs water and is fertile as before.”
And he concludes: “it is a process of desertification of an entire system, so it cannot be seen only as a punctual crisis.”
Hopes rely on extensive rain in October, the beginning of the rainy season.
NASA wrote in 2020 about that year's drought:
The drought has affected the region since early 2020, and low water levels have grounded several ships, and many vessels have had to reduce their cargo in order to navigate the river. With Rosario serving as the distribution hub for much of Argentina’s soy and other farm exports, low water levels have caused hundreds of millions of dollars in losses for the grain sector, according to news reports.
The low water levels on the Paraná River have coincided with increased fire activity within the delta. Remote sensing scientists at the Universidad Nacional de San Martín have been tracking how many active fire detections the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite sensors have made in recent months, finding that MODIS had in 2020 detected more than 1,450 hotspots in the Paraná River delta through July 22, more than any other year since 2008. The natural-color image above, acquired by MODIS, shows where the VIIRS sensor detected unusually warm temperatures associated with fires on July 14, 2020.
Low water levels mean there is more area—mostly grassland and shrubs—available to burn this year. According to Patricia Kandus of the Universidad Nacional de San Martín, many fires appeared to have been set intentionally, though dry conditions have also made it easier for fires to escape and burn uncontrolled. “Fires have been historically used in this region to provide pasture,” she said. “They are also widely used in the islands to hunt wild animals, as well as to clear vegetation cover to carry out land reclamation and diking constructions for agriculture and tree planting projects.”
The Pantanal wetlands are 68,000 square miles That are more than 20 times the size of the Florida everglades. The Pantanal is a rich marine habitat.
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