Brazil’s Economy Suffers Consequences of Amazon Deforestation
by Antonio Pasolini
Between 2014 and 2015, São Paulo, Brazil’s biggest city and the country’s financial center, underwent the worst drought in 80 years. The Cantareira reservoirs, the main source of water supply to São Paulo, went down to a record low. Although by the end of the summer the region eventually received the usual amount of rainfall in concentrated amounts, the problem is far from being solved. The combination of environmental recklessness and lack of investments has brewed up an ecological storm that requires strategic and focused political action.
One interesting element of climatology that transpired as the country discussed the water crisis was how deforestation is linked to it. The so-called flying rivers, the vapor clouds from the Amazon that bring rain to the center and south areas of the country, are not coming as they used to. The rain failed to fall at the right time and at the pace the economy is based on. In short, trees are gone and so is the rain, leaving the region that produces 30 percent of the country’s wealth in dire straits. It is an environmental crisis São Paulo is not prepared for.
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Image source: Imazon
Antonio Pasolini is a journalist based in Brazil who writes about alternative energy, green living and sustainability. He edits Energyrefuge.com, a top web destination for news and comment on renewable energy, and contributes articles on emerging technology to Gizmag. He is also a happy herbivore.
