As
announced on Monday, September 6, a severe dry period has resulted in
the parching of Brazil’s flora- and fauna-rich Amazon basin forest and
Pantanal area, with officials calling it the worst since 1973.
The
arid conditions have also sparked some 1,200 wildfires, prompting an
environmental emergency to be declared in 15 of the nation’s 26 states.
Having just faced historic floods in 2009 due to a record rise in Amazon
River water levels, several communities in Amazonas state now find
themselves facing the opposite extreme as they have been isolated by
drought and can no longer be accessed by boat, only by foot through the
forest.
Water navigation in general has been seriously hampered,
with the Juruá River nearly run dry and water levels of Pantanal’s
Chacore Bay, the third largest in Brazil, having dropped significantly.
Over
80,000 people are currently estimated to have been affected, and the
regional government is sending food and water supplies. Meanwhile in
neighboring Peru, the Amazon River is noted to be at its lowest level in
40 years, with officials expressing concern over expected food
shortages and disease as they brace for an extended dry period similar
to one that occurred five years ago.
Robert Falcon of Peru's
civil defense agency said, “The scientists are already saying that
because of climate change these events will become more frequent.”
We
appreciate the efforts of the Brazilian government and other officials
to ease this challenging situation as we join in concern for the grave
effects of these climate-related changes.
Let us all strive to
foster a more balanced ecosphere for the survival and comfort of all
life on Earth. In an October 2009 address to government magistrates and
judges in Mexico, Supreme Master Ching Hai spoke of the dire effects of
climate change, while appealing for the swift measures necessary to
effectively halt them.
Supreme Master Ching Hai:
Once towering glaciers are receding so fast that over 2 billion people
are already short of water and food. Many more suffer shortage as tens
of thousands of rivers and waters are gone or drying.
At this
most urgent time for the planet, I beseech your honorable graces to
please help your country and our world spare lives from the impending
global warming calamity.
If you don’t, there will be too massive
a catastrophe, too immense a suffering upon people, families, the
children, that our conscience might never be able to bear it.
We
cannot wait for the sustainable energy and green technology to be
available and used by everyone. It would be too late. We must become
vegan to save our planet.
http://www.mysinchew.com/node/44603?tid=37http://www.france24.com/en/20100907-drought-brazils-amazon-basin-forest-pantanalhttp://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFN0315683020100903
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