The mark was reached this 3rd (Oct 17); 58 municipalities in Amazonas are in a state of public calamity
The elevation of the Negro River, located in the northern region of the country, reached 13.49 meters this Tuesday (17.Oct.2023) – the lowest since 1902, when measurements began. The Amazon is facing a historic drought.
The information is from Port of Manaus, which carries out measurements on the river, and the forecast is that the waters will continue to fall until the beginning of November, when the dry period ends. On Monday (Oct 16), the river level was 13.59 meters. The highest volume was recorded in 2021, when the river level reached 30.02 meters.
The drought caused the governor of Amazonas Wilson Lima (União Brasil), declared, in September, an emergency situation in 55 of the 62 municipalities. Currently, 58 municipalities in Amazonas are in a state of calamity or emergency.
On Monday (Oct 16), the governor met with the Minister of Health, Nísia Trindade, to discuss the partnership between federal, state and municipal governments to reinforce health care for the population.
On that occasion, the minister announced the transfer of more than R$233 million to the 62 municipalities of Amazonas. There were two ordinances, one worth R$225 million, which encompasses the recomposition of the so-called MAC Ceiling (medium and high complexities) in 59 municipalities.
The 2nd ordinance, worth R$8.9 million, is aimed at primary care in the cities of Lábrea, Tabatinga and São Gabriel da Cachoeira, with health units managed by the State.
Of the R$225 million for medium and high complexity, R$102.3 million will be released in a single installment to the municipalities. Another R$122.7 million will be incorporated into the Amazonas medium and high complexity ceiling.
According to the Amazon government, from this transfer, R$100 million will be allocated to 61 municipalities and another R$12 million will go to Manaus, to be used for emergency assistance in supplying municipal health units with medicines, PPE (personal protective equipment) and hospital supplies.
The division was based on the apportionment coefficients of the FPM (Municipal Participation Fund).
FALL IN WATER VOLUME
In September, according to the collaborative network of universities, NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and technology companies, MapBiomasAmazonas recorded, in a technical note, the smallest area covered by water in the State since 2018.
The data was obtained from satellite images from the LandSat and Sentinel systems and shows a water surface of 3.56 million hectares, a reduction of 1.39 million hectares compared to the 4.95 million hectares recorded in September 2022 – which was a level above the historical average monitored by MapBiomas, starting in 1985.
“Water reduction was detected in rivers, lakes and wetlands, affecting 25 municipalities with a loss of more than 10,000 hectares of water surfaces, with the top 5 in the ranking losing more than 40,000 hectares”says a note from the network.
The researchers also mapped some points acutely affected by the reduction in water surface. In addition to the drought in Lake Tefé, which resulted in the death of more than 140 dolphins, according to the Mamirauá Institute for Sustainable Development.
Satellite images showed that entire lakes dried up in floodplain areas in the Auatí-Paraná Resex (Extractive Reserve). Located in Médio-Solimões, the reserve covers the territories of the municipalities of Fonte Boa, Japurá and Maraã.
The same happened with the drought in Lake Coari, affecting access to food, medicine and the school calendar. Between Tefé and Alvarães, the drought forms extensive sandbanks.
“The severe drought in the Amazon in 2023 has been attributed to a combination of the El Niño phenomenon and the warming of the North Atlantic, leading to an intense drought that could continue until January 2024. The State of Amazonas is one of the hardest hit. In the month of September 2023, approximately 20 stations in the Amazon hydrological network recorded drought conditions, with half located in Amazonas”says the MapBiomas technical note.
With information from Brazil Agency
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