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The central north Amazon, with extensive areas of high forest cover, natural savannas and vast and important indigenous territories, was not previously considered as being the most affected by climate change.
However, this region, which is considered critical to Amazonia’s cultural and biodiversity wealth has unexpectedly found itself at the forefront of rapid growth in climate extremes, a new study reveals.
Findings, published today in Communications Earth & Environment, identify Amazonia as experiencing rapid growth in extreme temperatures and water stress – with 10% of the basin, an area larger than 700,000 square kilometres (bigger than Afghanistan), witnessing increases in extreme temperatures during the dry season of at least 0.75°C a decade and more than 3.22°C since 1981.
The findings reveal that climate extremes in the Amazon have been getting increasingly worse over the last 43 years. These changes do not show up in assessments of average Amazon temperatures, which are rising at 0.21°C a decade and are in line with the global average warming.
