More than 420,000 children in the Amazon basin are being hit hard by the drought that is devastating much of South America and affecting water supplies and river transport, UNICEF said on Wednesday.
The record-breaking drought is taking its toll on indigenous and other communities in Brazil, Colombia and Peru that rely on boat connections, the UN agency said.
“We are witnessing the destruction of a vital ecosystem that families rely on, leaving many children without access to adequate food, water, healthcare and schools,” UNICEF chief Catherine Russell said in a statement.
Resulting food insecurity increased the risk of malnutrition in children, the agency said, while reduced access to drinking water could cause an increase in infectious diseases.
In the Amazon region of Brazil alone, more than 1,700 schools and more than 760 medical clinics had to close or became inaccessible due to low river levels.
In the Colombian Amazon, a lack of drinking water and food forced 130 schools to suspend classes. In Peru, more than fifty clinics were inaccessible.
UNICEF said it needs $10 million in the coming months to help affected communities in those three countries, including by providing water and deploying health brigades.
Weather observation agencies such as NASA’s Earth Observatory and the EU’s Copernicus agency say the drought in the Amazon basin since the second half of last year was caused by the 2023-2024 El Nino climate phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean.
Brazilian experts said the climate crisis was also to blame.
Inadequate rainfall and shrinking rivers in vital rainforest exacerbated forest fires, disrupted hydropower generation and dried out crops in parts of Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela.
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