Megadroughts, extreme rainfall, melting and deforestation, climate change in Latin America

Extreme weather and the impacts of climate change, such as extreme droughts and rainfall, terrestrial and marine heat waves, and melting glaciers, are already affecting the Latin American and Caribbean region, from the Amazon to the Andes and from the waters of the Pacific and the Atlantic to the snowy bottoms of Patagonia.

Against this background, the Report on the state of the climate in Latin America and the Caribbean 2021 of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) highlights the profound impacts on ecosystems, food and water security, human health and poverty.

The document reveals, among other environmental impacts, that deforestation rates in the region were the highest since 2009, in a blow to both the environment and climate change mitigation. Meanwhile, the Andean glaciers lost more than 30% of their surface in less than 50 years. And the “Central Chile megadrought” is the longest in at least 1000 years.

“The report shows that hydrometeorological risks, such as droughts, heat waves, cold waves, tropical cyclones and floods, have unfortunately caused the loss of hundreds of livesserious damage to crop production and infrastructure, and human displacement,” said Secretary-General of the UN agency that authored the report, Professor Petteri Taalas.

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“Sea level rise and warming oceans are expected to continue to affect livelihoods, tourism, health, food, energy and water security in coastal areas, especially small islands. and in Central American countries.For many Andean cities, melting glaciers represent the loss of an important source of freshwater that is currently used for domestic use, irrigation, and hydroelectric power.In South America, the continuing degradation of the rainforest Amazon continues to be one of the main concerns for the region, but also for the global climate, considering the role of the forest in the carbon cycle,” said Professor Taalas.

The report was released during a WMO Regional Technical Conference for South American countries, organized by the WMO in Cartagena, Colombia, this Friday, July 22, 2022.

This is the second year that the World Meteorological Organization has produced this annual regional report, which provides decision-makers with more precise and localized information so they can take action.

“The worsening of climate change and the aggravated effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have not only affected the region’s biodiversity, but have also stalled decades of progress against poverty, food insecurity and the reduction of inequality in the region,” said Mario Cimoli of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

For Cimoli, addressing these interconnected challenges requires collaboration that is itself interconnected and “informed by science.”

Main results of the report

The document examines all aspects of climate change from a meteorological and environmental point of view, including:

• Temperature: The warming trend continued in 2021 in Latin America and the Caribbean. The average rate of temperature increase was about 0.2°C/decade between 1991 and 2021, compared to 0.1°C/decade between 1961 and 1990.
• The glaciers of the tropical Andes they have lost 30% and more of their area since the 1980s, with a negative mass balance trend of -0.97 m of water equivalent per year during the 1990-2020 monitoring period. Some glaciers in Peru have lost more than 50% of their surface. Glacier retreat and associated ice mass loss have increased the risk of water scarcity for the Andean population and ecosystems.
• The sea level in the region continued to rise at a faster rate than in the rest of the world, especially in the Atlantic coast of South America south of the equator (3.52 ± 0.0 mm per year, from 1993 to 2021), and in the Subtropical North Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico (3.48 ± 0.1 mm per year, from 1993 to 1991). Sea level rise threatens a large part of the population, which is concentrated in coastal areas, as it pollutes freshwater aquifers, erodes coastlines, floods low-lying areas and increases the risk of storm surges.
• The megadrought in Central Chile continued into 2021, 13 years to date, constituting the longest drought in this region in at least a thousand years, exacerbating a desiccation trend and placing Chile at the forefront of the region’s water crisis. In addition, a multi-year drought in the Paraná-La Plata basin, the worst since 1944, affected south-central Brazil and parts of Paraguay and Bolivia. Drought damage in the Paraná-La Plata basin reduced crop production, including soybeans and corn, affecting global crop markets. In South America as a whole, dry conditions led to a -2.6% decline in the 2020-2021 cereal harvest compared to the previous season.
• The 2021 Atlantic Hurricane Season it had the third-highest number of named storms on record, 21, including seven hurricanes, and was the sixth consecutive above-normal Atlantic hurricane season. Some of these storms directly affected the region.
• The extreme rains of 2021, with record values ​​in many places, caused floods and landslides. Considerable losses occurred, including hundreds of fatalities, tens of thousands of homes destroyed or damaged, and hundreds of thousands of displaced people. Flooding and landslides in the Brazilian states of Bahia and Minas Gerais caused an estimated loss of $3.1 billion.
• Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon Rainforest it doubled compared to the 2009-2018 average, reaching its highest level since 2009. In 2021, 22% more forest area was lost than in 2020.
• A total of 7.7 million people, in Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua, experienced high levels of food shortages and food insecurity in 2021with contributing factors such as the ongoing impacts of Hurricanes Eta and Iota in late 2020 and the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The Andes, northeastern Brazil and the countries of northern Central America are among the regions most sensitive to migration and climate-related displacement, a phenomenon that has increased in the last eight years. Migrations and population displacements have multiple causes. Climate change and associated extreme events are amplifying factors that exacerbate social, economic and environmental factors.
• South America is one of the regions with the greatest documented need for strengthen multi-hazard early warning systemsessential tools for effective adaptation to climate change in areas at risk of extreme weather, water and climate events.