{"id":60058902,"date":"2024-11-07T15:27:59","date_gmt":"2024-11-07T15:27:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/?post_type=photo_story&p=60058902"},"modified":"2026-01-08T19:06:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T19:06:17","slug":"as-brazils-amazon-grows-drier-indigenous-people-feel-the-squeeze","status":"publish","type":"photo_story","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/as-brazils-amazon-grows-drier-indigenous-people-feel-the-squeeze\/","title":{"rendered":"As Brazil\u2019s Amazon grows drier, Indigenous people feel the squeeze"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Waur\u00e1 Indigenous people live on the banks of the Piyulaga, a lagoon that also lends its name \u2013 meaning \u201cfishing place\u201d in the native Arawak language \u2013 to their village.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The residents are duly skilful fishers. As their boat floats upon the lagoon, a group casts a net from one side, while a young man claps his rod into the water on the other, towards a gathering of fish. Frightened, they swim straight into the trap. The Indigenous fishers then pull them out of the net, kill them with their teeth and throw them into the boat. The technique is repeated at strategic points in the lagoon until a few bags are filled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The men bring in their catch a few times a week, securing the fish that, together with manioc, form the basis of their families\u2019 diet. But in the first week of October, when they arrived at the lagoon, they found several fish dead in the water. In the days that followed they found more dead fish with each new trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Three<\/div>
Waur\u00e1 Indigenous people fish in the Piyulaga lagoon, in the Xingu Indigenous Territory, Mato Grosso state, Brazil. They are skilful fishers and rely on the lagoon for their catch, but have faced threats to their livelihood from a historic drought in the Xingu Basin (Image: Fl\u00e1via Milhorance \/ Dialogue Earth)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"A<\/div>
The catch of the day includes hoplias and pauzinho<\/em>. From the first week of October, Waur\u00e1 fishers began to find dead fish in the lagoon, which they believe suffered from the decreasing level and warming of its waters amid the drought (Image: Fl\u00e1via Milhorance \/ Dialogue Earth)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

They believe that the causes are related to the rapid decrease in the level of the lagoon and the abnormal warming of its waters \u2013 aggravated by a historic drought in the Xingu River basin, a hydrographic network that extends<\/a> over more than 500,000 square kilometres, an area the size of Spain, between the Brazilian states of Par\u00e1, in the north, and Mato Grosso, in the centre-west.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 30 September, the National Water Agency (ANA) declared<\/a> the basin to be in a critical situation of water scarcity. At some points in the basin, the rates of recovery to normal flow were said to be extremely slow and would exceed a century, according to estimates by Patrick Thadeu Thomas, deputy superintendent at the agency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are currently experiencing an extraordinary drought in the Xingu River basin,\u201d he said<\/a> at the ANA meeting that day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As well as cutting through the Piyulaga village and more than a hundred communities in the Xingu Indigenous territory, the basin serves 23 municipalities, totalling half a million inhabitants, Thomas noted. It is crucial for navigation and supplies hydroelectric plants, including the giant Belo Monte. Although the dam accounts for nearly 5% of Brazil\u2019s installed power generation capacity, it generated only 1% of its capacity at the beginning of October, the lowest rate in the last five years, according to an analysis based on data from the National Electric System Operator<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Map<\/div>
Map: Dialogue Earth<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The declaration of a critical situation in the basin remains in effect until 30 November, when the rains are expected to return to the Amazon region. Until then, mitigation measures are being adopted, such as reducing the level of the Belo Monte reservoir to release more water into the Xingu River.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018The lagoon is our market\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sitting in the shade near the entrance to his oca<\/em>, Tiraw\u00e1 Waur\u00e1, a 51-year-old teacher, invited the reporter to come closer on a sweltering mid-August afternoon. \u201cI wanted to talk about climate change,\u201d he said, which described as now being \u201cthe biggest cause for concern\u201d in his community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe lagoon is our market, it\u2019s where we get our food,\u201d Tiraw\u00e1 explained. \u201cIf it dries up, we won\u2019t live well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Located in the transition zone between the Amazon and the Cerrado biomes, the Xingu Basin is home to a vast diversity of fish. But each year its capacity for regeneration diminishes, according to the Waur\u00e1. \u201cThere used to be more species,\u201d said Yaruma Kau\u00ea, 20, while holding a tucunar\u00e9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe says there were catfish, giant wolf fish…,\u201d added the young man, looking towards 61-year-old Ewelupi Waur\u00e1, the most experienced leader among the fishers, whose robust build, despite his age, tells of his decades of hard, physical work. Ewelupi avoids speaking Portuguese, like many of the villagers who maintain traditional habits, such as their fishing techniques.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"A<\/div>
At 61, Ewelupi Waur\u00e1 is the most experienced leader among the fishers, and has fished in the Piyulaga for decades (Image: Fl\u00e1via Milhorance \/ Dialogue Earth)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"A<\/div>
Yaruma Kau\u00ea holds a tucunar\u00e9 caught that day. He says there used to be more species in the lagoon (Image: Fl\u00e1via Milhorance \/ Dialogue Earth)\u00a0<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

In addition to Belo Monte\u2019s impact<\/a> on the basin\u2019s biodiversity, agro-industry has advanced into its native forests to the point of practically cutting off<\/a> the Xingu Indigenous reserve. Its springs, found in its southern portion, are not protected by reserves, suffering from the intense advance of the agricultural frontier: Par\u00e1 and Mato Grosso accumulate the highest rates of deforestation in the Amazon, according to federal government monitoring<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For decades, the effects of hydroelectric dams, agro-industry and urbanisation have therefore left the Xingu Basin vulnerable. The Waur\u00e1\u2019s concern is that with each passing year, when the rainy season returns, the waters around the village do not recover to their previous levels, becoming a little lower in each cycle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An analysis of satellite images from three sources suggests that intensifying drought has hit the area over time. The Global Surface Water<\/a> platform shows that some waters, once permanent, have become seasonal over the last three decades. The trend of declining waters over decades in the area is also visible<\/a> on the MapBiomas monitoring platform. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf an area is no longer permanently covered by water, it could be drying out,\u201d explained Ayan Fleischmann, who researches the hydrology of the Amazon region and analysed the images at Dialogue Earth\u2019s request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n