CLIMATE – As Brazil faces a historic drought and a series of fires, more than a thousand municipalities were placed on alert this Thursday, September 5, due to very low humidity, sometimes even comparable to that of deserts like the Sahara, at a time when the country faces a historic drought and a series of fires.
The affected areas are concentrated mainly in the central region of the country, especially in Brasilia, and in the southeast, in the highly populated states of São Paulo and Minas Gerais. They have a humidity level below 12%, which is below the threshold recommended by the World Health Organization, according to data published by the National Institute of Meteorology Inmet.
In several dozen municipalities, the humidity level has fallen below the 10% threshold, even reaching 7%. A level “ also low » than in the Sahara, Ana Paula Cunha, a researcher at the National Center for Monitoring Natural Disasters (Cemaden), told AFP. According to her, Brazil is experiencing its worst drought “ for at least 70 years”.
The situation is “ very dangerous »warns Inmet, because it presents “ a high risk of forest fires”. Lack of humidity also leads to risks. for health »because it exposes residents to “ lung diseases » and “ headaches ».
The organization recommends that people drink more and avoid physical activity and exposure to the sun between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. “It is also important that people increase the use of moisturizers and humidify their environment,” warns the EBC news agency.
World’s largest wetland in danger
Brazil has been ravaged for months by a wave of large-scale fires, in the Amazon (north), the largest tropical forest on the planet, in the Pantanal (central west), and more recently in the state of São Paulo (southeast). Huge clouds of smoke from these fires have covered large cities such as the capital Brasilia, where it has not rained for 130 days.
The combination of high temperatures, high winds and low humidity creates a “ context very favorable to new fires”warned Brazil’s Environment Minister Marina Silva in a recent interview with AFP. Only two of the 27 territories that make up Brazil “ are not seriously affected by severe water shortages”she said.
At a Senate hearing on Wednesday, she warned that the Pantanal, the world’s largest wetland and a biodiversity sanctuary, could disappear. by the end of the century” if the drought persists and these climatic phenomena “ are increasingly serious and frequent”Huge clouds of smoke are visible over the 9,000 hectares of vegetation.
Brazil suffered another climate crisis in May, when the south of the country was devastated by floods that killed more than 180 people. The scientific community attributes these extreme weather events to the El Niño weather phenomenon, which is associated with global warming. In late 2025, Brazil will host COP30, the United Nations climate conference, in the Amazonian city of Belem.
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