Smoke shrouds Brazilian city as Amazon burns

FRANCE 24 English

Visit our website: http://www.france24.com  Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/France24_en

Transcript

00:00On the banks of the Madeira River in the Brazilian Amazon, boats are becoming stranded.

00:06Their movement impeded by sandbars, rocky outcrops and low water levels.

00:12Just a year on from Brazil's worst drought in history, it's a foreboding sign.

00:16And fears are high that this year's dry season could be worse than the last.

00:20There are rocky corners where we pass really slow so that we can avoid the worst from happening.

00:28We have to protect our lives and the lives of our passengers.

00:32To make matters worse, vision is obstructed by the thick clouds of smoke

00:36that have also blanketed the nearby city of Porto Velho.

00:40The city has gone two months without significant rainfall

00:43and now residents are struggling to breathe after the region's worst period of wildfires in nearly two decades.

00:50According to data collected by Brazil's INPA Space Research Institute,

00:54the Amazon as a whole recorded more than 42,000 forest fires between January and August,

01:0187 per cent higher than the same period in 2023.

01:05On Tuesday, the country's Environment Minister issued a reminder

01:08that these events are linked to climate change

01:10and that world leaders need to limit global temperatures.

01:15We're already living with the effects of climate change,

01:17what's happening in the Amazon, too much drought, too much rain and humanity paying a very high price.

01:25Scientists have warned that if Earth surpasses the established 1.5 degrees Celsius warming threshold,

01:31humanity will face more extreme and irreversible events,

01:35such as increased and more frequent droughts and wildfires.

Category

Transcript

Recommended