Only last year, the Amazon lost 3.6% of the water surface in relation to the average extension of water in the biome. Extreme drought left the forest for seven months with the levels of water below the historical average, according to Mapbiomas data, released last Friday (21).
The biome, which has More than half of Brazil’s water surface (61%) had almost two thirds (63% of the 47 sub-basins) of their watersheds recorded water surface loss.
Amid extreme drought, the most serious cases occurred in Rio Negro sub-basins, which presented a reduction of more than 50 thousand hectares compared to the historical averageaccording to the study.
Water surface loss in, which was the last year of surface gain in the country. “It was two consecutive years of extreme drought in the Amazon, and in 2024, the drought arrived early and affected basins that were not strongly hit in 2023, with that of Tapajós,” says Carlos Souza Júnior, a researcher at Mapbiomas.
Brazil lost 2% of the water surface
In the same trend of the previous year, only by 2024 the Brazil lost 2% of the water surface. The analysis shows that last year was 4% below the average of the historical series, which began in 1985, and show that the last decade had eight of the 10 driest years ever analyzed.
“The dynamics of land occupation and use in Brazil, along with extreme climate events, caused by global warming, is leaving Brazil drier,” explains Juliano Schirmbeck, technical coordinator of Mapbiomas Água.
O In relation to the historical average: 61%. In 2024, the Pantanal, the largest floodplain on the planet, was below the historical average during all the year.
In the Cerrado, the researchers recorded an inversion between surface of natural water bodies (rivers, lakes and lagoons) and artificial (reservoirs and dams). In 1985, 63% of the biome water surface was natural – a number that went to 40% in 2024, while artificial water bodies went from 37% to 60%.
Full reservoirs do not supply rivers drying
Anthropic water grew 54% compared to 1985, but the scenario did not revert the general trend of reduction, according to the research. Most of the water surface identified in anthropic bodies is in densely inhabited biomes, such as the Atlantic Forest, while the natural loss of rivers and lakes lost 15% of water compared to the historical series.
“The increase in the surface of water in the Cerrado, Caatinga and Atlantic forest derive from the growth of water stored in hydroelectric dams and other types of reservoirs. In the case of biomes with greater prevalence of natural water, such as the Amazon and Pantanal, there was water reduction,” says Juliano Schirirbeck.
