Drought punishes Quilombolas in the Brazilian Amazon — studies predict that global warming could triple extreme droughts in the Amazon by 2100
Comissão Pró-Índio de São Paulo, February 2016
In 2015, the Quilombolas of Oriximiná in Brazilian Amazon experienced an unprecedented drought. The abundant River Erepecuru — a transport route and source of water for some 1,600 Quilombolas — turned into a trickle.
Access by boat was impossible and the Quilombolas had to use canoes to go from their communities to a point where they could continue their trip by boat to the city, making their commute, which usually takes 6 to 8 long hours, even more difficult. The routine of the women who use the river for various household chores (such as washing) was impaired.
The drama experienced by the Quilombolas does not seem to be an isolated incident. The climate is changing in the Amazon. Extreme weather events such as severe droughts or heavy rains are becoming more and more violent, and local people have been forced to find new ways to survive with an increasingly less predictable climate. And the situation tends to worsen — the Woods Hole Research Center (US) believes that global warming can triple extreme droughts in the Amazon by 2100.
In the evaluation of the ecology professor of the University of São Paulo, Patricia Pinho, the great climatic variability is creating increasingly hostile living conditions to traditional communities with regard to housing, water security, health and transport. According to her, the droughts of 2005, 2010 and 2015, as well as the severe floods of 2006 and 2009, appear to have exceeded the coping capacity of communities (InfoAmazonia).
The Amazon and Climate Change
The Amazon is among the most vulnerable biomes to climate change in the world, according to the map of the sensitivity of the world’s ecosystems to climate variability created by a group of researchers from Norway and the UK and published in the journal Nature.
During the study period (2000–2013), Amazon responded with greater sensitivity to climate variability compared to other parts of the world, showing, for example, changes in the appearance of vegetation — less green, less new leaves and less carbon absorption from the atmosphere. It is as if the biome went into depression and its plants ceased to function properly.
Deforestation remains the greatest source of Brazilian emissions (31.2%). The states of Pará (where Oriximiná is located) and São Paulo (Brazil’s largest industrial centre) are responsible for the largest emissions in Brazil (10% each) (Climate Observatory).
The above data reinforce the defence of the regularisation and protection of the quilombo lands in Oriximiná as an effective measure to mitigate global warming. Indigenous territories in the Brazilian Amazon represent a reserve of about 13 billion tons of carbon — 30% of what is stored in the forest (Ecodebate). There are no estimates for quilombo lands.
Just like in other parts of the Amazon, the approximately 88,390 km2 of forests that make up the Quilombola and indigenous lands in Oriximiná (an area larger than Belgium and the Netherlands together) represent a significant carbon reservoir and, thus, its preservation contributes to the entire planet.
Sources:
Aquecimento pode triplicar secas extremas na Amazônia, sugere estudo [Heating can triple extreme droughts in the Amazon, suggests study]
http://www.observatoriodoclima.eco.br/aquecimento-pode-triplicar-seca-na-amazonia/
Extreme Amazon — DROUGHT, FIRES AND DEFORESTATION ARE ALREADY IMPACTING THE LIFE OF RIVERINE COMMUNITIES ON THE TAPAJÓS RIVER.
http://amazoniaextrema.webflow.io/en
Amazônia extrema: sem chuva, ribeirinhos são obrigados a se adaptar [Extreme Amazon: without rain, reparians have to adapt]
Brasil tem dois biomas entre os mais vulneráveis do mundo [Brazil has two biomes among the most vulnerable in the world]
http://site.adital.com.br/site/noticia.php?lang=PT&cod=88162
Estimativas de Emissões de Gases de Efeito Estufa no Brasil 1970–2014 [Greenhouse Gas Emissions estimates in Brazil — 1970–2014]
http://www.observatoriodoclima.eco.br/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/SEEG-3.0-_Nota.pdf
Terras indígenas protegem 30% do carbono da Amazônia [Indigenous Lands protect 30% of the Amazonian carbon]
http://www.ecodebate.com.br/2015/09/22/terras-indigenas-protegem-30-do-carbono-da-amazonia/
IPAM
Terras Indígenas na Amazônia Brasileira: reservas de carbono e barreiras ao desmatamento
[Indigenous Lands in the Brazilian Amazon: carbon stocks and barriers to deforestation]
http://ipam.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/terras_ind%C3%ADgenas_na_amaz%C3%B4nia_brasileira_.pdf
