A silent machine works constantly to ensure that millions of people in South America have access to water, rivers, and crops. This mechanism is called the Amazon, and it works as follows – moisture from the ocean produces rain over the forest; the water is absorbed from the soil by the trees and released back into the atmosphere as vapor; the wind then spreads this vapor across the entire continent, causing rain in various regions.

Researcher Julia Valentim Tavares explains that this is South America’s primary water infrastructure and the largest “rain machine” on the planet. A mature tree in the Amazon can release 200 to 300 liters of water into the atmosphere every day.

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“Imagine 400 billion of them working together every day. If we could visualize that moisture, we’d see giant rivers flying through the sky. That’s what we scientists call ‘flying rivers.’”

Marielos Peñaclaros, co-chair of the Scientific Panel for the Amazon – an organization that brings together more than 350 scientists dedicated to studying the biome – emphasizes that the forest is the backbone of water, nutrient, and carbon cycles at the local, regional, and global levels.

“In other words, the Amazon sustains life – not only in the Amazon region but on the planet as a whole.”

The two specialists participated in the latest edition of TEDxAmazônia, held in late August in Ecuador. TEDxAmazônia stems from a commitment to listening deeply to this region. It is the only TEDx event dedicated to a single biome. The conversations that emerge at these gatherings “cross borders, connect knowledge, and bridge the local and the global,” a text on the TEDx website reads.

Warning

In addition to emphasizing the importance of this water system, the scientists issued a warning – the devastation of the Amazon is already affecting the “rain machine,” and its breakdown would be catastrophic for the entire planet.

Activities such as mining and drug trafficking, combined with deforestation and wildfires, have directly impacted Amazonian connectivity – a key factor for the conservation of the biome, Marielos noted.

“The Amazon is a living mosaic of interconnected terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, home to a great diversity of cultures. These communities have a deep and interdependent relationship with the ecosystems through their ways of life, management practices, and knowledge.”

The effects on the climate are already measurable, she said, with evidence that deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon results in less rainfall in regions of Brazil and Bolivia. In deforested areas, temperatures have risen, and dry seasons are becoming more intense and longer.

Julia Valentim Tavares is also measuring these effects from within the trees along the southern edge of the Amazon – a region known as “arc of deforestation” – where rainfall has already decreased and temperatures have risen over the past decade. She is investigating how long these trees can withstand droughts before their internal “ropes” are damaged.

“If the soil has water, this rope remains intact. During a dry season, the soil loses its water, and this rope becomes taut. The atmosphere pulls it upward, the soil pulls it downward, until the rope finally snaps. If this happens repeatedly in various parts of the tree, the tree literally begins to die of thirst.”

Global warming

In recent years, the region has also suffered from the effects of global warming. In 2024, the Amazon faced the worst drought in its history as a result of El Niño – a natural phenomenon involving the warming of Pacific Ocean waters that alters atmospheric circulation and has been growing in intensity.

Marielos points out that 88 percent of the Amazon basin felt the effects of this drought, which also disrupted the “rain machine.” Bogotá, the capital of Colombia, located in the Andes region, suffered from water shortages. In Quito, Ecuador – which is also outside the Amazon – water shortages led to power outages.

“The question we should all be asking is, where does the water for countless Latin American cities come from? Where does the water we use in agriculture, industry, and food production come from?” asked the co-chair of the scientific panel for the Amazon.

The drought also rendered the Amazon more vulnerable to wildfires, which reached record levels that year. Julia Valentim Tavares notes that smoke from the fires spread across the country, reaching as far as the Brazilian Southeast.

“This casts light on two key issues – first, the Amazon has never been far away. What happens in the forest does not stay in the forest. And second – millions of people depend on the Amazon, yet they still do not feel connected to it.”

The forecast that a super El Niño will occur this year has alarmed the scientists. “When these droughts occur, the forest either faces mortality due to water stress, or stops growing – plus wildfires. As a result, the Amazon ceases to function as a carbon sink and becomes a source of emissions, contributing to global warming,” she warned.

“We’re expecting it to be as strong as or stronger than in 2024, but the main difference is that last time, things happened that no one was expecting. How could a river dry up in the Amazon? Now everyone is talking about it,” Marielos noted.

In her view, a definitive solution will only be achieved through a drastic reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, which depends heavily on replacing fossil fuels with less polluting energy sources.

“We also have to invest in connectivity – restoring degraded areas, rehabilitating those that were deforested for production, and reestablishing this ecological connectivity, because the Amazon is already approaching the point of no return, and because the total loss of this connectivity would be catastrophic for the entire world.”

*The reporter attended TEDxAmazônia at the invitation of the event organizers.

Brazil has developed a response and preparedness plan for public health emergencies linked to El Niño for 2026–2027 dubbed AdaptaSUS.

The plan comes as part of a wider federal initiative to address climate change, put together by 25 ministries with contributions from society and the business sector. Guidelines stress that the impacts of climate change on human health are becoming increasingly evident.

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“The main risk to health and healthcare services stemming from climate change is a potential increase in the incidence of disease and deaths, and in the demand for health services,” the text says.

The document was presented by the Ministry of Health on Wednesday (Aug. 26) at an assembly of the National Council of Health Secretaries in Brasília.

The ministry points out that climate change requires integrated responses that are sensitive to inequalities and guided by climate justice and equity, since communities facing socio-environmental vulnerabilities are disproportionately affected.

The plan

The initiative aims to establish strategies at the federal level within Brazil’s national healthcare network, the SUS, in order to reduce the impacts of climate change on people’s health and on health services, and to define guidelines for states and cities.

Preparation efforts are based on the creation on situation rooms for federal and internal governance; the provision of emergency pharmaceutical assistance resources and kits; the deployment of the SUS National Force, with regional bases capable of dispatching teams within 48 hours; and the implementation of technical protocols according to the needs of each of the six Brazilian biomes.

In the medium term, the initiative sets forth 27 goals and 93 actions to be implemented by 2035.

Among the actions related to water security in areas prone to drought and dry spells, the National Health Foundation procured 18,800 cisterns in 397 municipalities across seven states, with BRL 226.6 million allocated to sanitation improvement.

Tools

The strategy calls for the integration of the Ministry of Health’s official systems used for the early detection, reporting, monitoring, and investigation of outbreaks and other public health issues in Brazil.

Some of the tools used for climate monitoring focus on heat stress and populations exposed to air pollutants, and involve the National Center for Natural Disaster Monitoring and Alerts.

AdaptaSUS also relies on Health and Climate Information Centers – a pilot project implemented in eight cities across Brazil’s five regions.

In the Amazon, preparedness measures also include organizing the healthcare network and the infrastructure available to serve populations in hard-to-reach areas, including healthcare teams and riverine primary healthcare units.

The plan stipulates that the Ministry of Health also establish a panel of experts on climate and health, tasked with providing technical advice on decisions related to preparedness and response to the impacts of climate events.

Risks and effects

The health risks posed by climate change include deaths, injuries, an increase in diseases, disruptions to healthcare services, destruction of infrastructure, and even public health emergencies.

Among the main direct health effects are:

• diseases associated with temperature extremes;
• diseases caused by inadequate access to water, sanitation, and hygiene; vector-borne diseases and zoonoses;
• respiratory diseases;
• diseases associated with air pollution;
• injuries and deaths caused by extreme weather events;
• malnutrition and noncommunicable diseases, as well as mental and psycho-social health issues.

In addition to changes in disease patterns, climate change can also impact the healthcare system by increasing demand for healthcare services, triggering public health emergencies, and compromising or disrupting service delivery at healthcare facilities.

El Niño

In Brazil, the El Niño climate phenomenon is classified as “strong” through 2027 and could reach the “very strong” level as early as September this year. The critical window is expected to occur sometime between October of this year and March 2027.

The effects of the phenomenon vary by region:

• drought, dry spells, and wildfires in the North and Central-West;
• worsening drought and heat in the Northeast;
• more erratic weather, with heat waves and thunderstorms in the Southeast; and
• heavy rains, with a risk of flooding, in the South.