More than 420,000 children in the Amazon basin have been badly affected by the drought that is ravaging much of South America, affecting water and river transport, UNICEF said on Wednesday.
A record-breaking drought is hurting indigenous and other communities in Brazil, Colombia and Peru who rely on boat connections, the UN agency said.
“We are witnessing the destruction of a critical ecosystem that families depend on, leaving many children without access to adequate food, water, health care and schools,” UNICEF chief Catherine Russell said in a statement.
The lack of food leads to an increase in the risk of malnutrition among children, said the organization, while the limited availability of drinking water may 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 be closed or inaccessible due to the shrinking of the rivers.
In the Colombian Amazon, lack of drinking water and food forced 130 schools to suspend classes. In Peru, more than 50 clinics were inaccessible.
UNICEF said it needs 10 million dollars in the coming months to help the affected communities in the three countries, including providing water and sending health brigades.
Meteorological institutions such as NASA's Earth Observatory and the EU's Copernicus service say that the drought in the Amazon region since the last half of last year was caused by the 2023-2024 El Nino climate in the Pacific.
Brazilian experts said the climate problem is also to blame.
Insufficient rainfall and the depletion of important rainforest rivers fueled forest fires, disrupted hydroelectric power generation and dried crops in parts of Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela.
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