BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Holder of one-fifth of the world's fresh water, the Amazon is beginning the dry season with many of its rivers already at critically low levels, prompting governments to anticipate contingency measures to address issues ranging from disrupted navigation to increasing forest fires.
“The Amazon Basin is facing one of the most severe droughts in recent years in 2024, with significant impacts on several member countries,” stated a technical note issued Wednesday by the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization, which includes Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela.
In several rivers in the southwestern Amazon, water levels are the lowest on record for this time of year. Historically, the driest months are August and September, when fire and deforestation peak. So far, the most affected countries are Bolivia, Peru and Brazil, according to ACTO.
On Monday, Brazil’s federal water agency decreed a water shortage in two major basins, Madeira and Purus, which cover an area nearly the size of Mexico. The next day, Acre state declared an emergency amid an impending water shortage in its main city. In June, neighboring Amazonas state adopted the same measure in 20 of its 62 municipalities that are mostly only accessed by water or air, even in normal times.
These steps were taken more than two months earlier than in 2023, when most of the Amazon basin suffered its worst drought on record, killing dozens of river dolphins, choking cities with smoke for months and isolating thousands of people who depended on water transportation. The measures are used to increase monitoring, mobilize resources and personnel and request federal aid.
The depth of Madeira River, one of the largest Amazon tributaries and an important waterway for soybeans and fuel, went below 3 meters (10 feet) near Porto Velho on July 20. In 2023, that occurred on Aug. 15. Navigation has been limited during nighttime, and two of Brazil's largest hydroelectric plants may halt production, as happened last year.
In the Amazonas town of Envira, nearby rivers have become too shallow to navigate. Local officials have asked elders and pregnant women to move from riverine communities to the city center because otherwise medical help may not be able to reach them. Farmers who produce cassava flour can’t get it to market. As a result, this Amazon food staple has more than doubled in price, according to the local administration.
Another concern is fire. There were around 25,000 fires from January until late July — the highest number for this period in almost two decades. In the Amazon, fires are mostly human-made and used to manage pastures and clear deforested areas.
In Acre, the drought has already caused water supply shortages in several areas of its capital, Rio Branco. These communities now depend on trucked-in water, a problem experienced the previous year. Between the two droughts, severe flooding hit 19 of the state's 22 municipalities.
“It's been two years in a row of extreme events,” Julie Messias, Acre's secretary of environment, told The Associated Press. “The result is that we are facing a threat of food shortage. First the crops were flooded, and now the planting period is very dry.”
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A heron stands in the Acre River, the main water source for the city of Rio Branco which is facing water shortages during a drought in Acre state, Brazil, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Marcos Vicentti)
The Acre River winds through the city of Rio Branco, where smoke from fires fills the sky during a drought in Acre state, Brazil, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024. The city faces water shortages due to the river's low levels. (AP Photo/Marcos Vicentti)
Boats sit on the bank of the Acre River, the main water source for the city of Rio Branco, which is facing water shortages amid a drought in Acre state, Brazil, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Marcos Vicentti)
Blackwater, left, pollutes the Acre River near Rio Branco, Acre state, Brazil, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024. The city of Rio Branco faces water shortages due to the river's low levels amid a drought. (AP Photo/Marcos Vicentti)
Los Angeles, you’re next.
Paris raised the game for the Paralympics, with more than 4,000 athletes as well as 2.4 million tickets sold, which was second only to the London Games of 2012. Now the challenge for U.S. organizers is to top it with another breakout moment for para sports.
“We want to conquer America,” said Craig Spence, a spokesman for the International Paralympic Committee.
Retired Army Lt. Gen. Reynold Hoover, CEO of the organizing committee for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and Paralympics, is confident the Paralympics can do just that.
“We don’t have the Eiffel Tower, we don’t have the Grand Palais, but we’ve got the Coliseum and we’ve got the Rose Bowl and we’ve got SoFi (Stadium), and all these tremendous state-of-the-art venues,” he said in an interview Friday as the Paris Games wound down.
The Paralympic venues for Los Angeles haven’t been announced yet – ideally, they’ll be finalized by the end of 2024. Since LA received the bid in 2017, several venues such as Crypto.com Arena and Sofi Stadium have either been re-envisioned or built.
With five new sports coming to the Olympics, and the addition of para climbing in the Paralympics, a record combined total of up to 15,000 athletes are expected to compete.
“We try to figure out what is the sport that is kind of new, engaging, emerging and can offer the Paralympians another avenue in which to show their intensity and commitment to sport,” Hoover said.
If the Paralympics are to take a jump in popularity in the United States, several areas are generally considered key to that success.
As the Paris Games finished, the NFL kicked off and college football finished its second full week, dominating the U.S. sports market.
Chris Hammer, a para triathlon veteran who won his first gold medal in the PTS5 classification for athletes with mild impairment, wouldn’t be surprised if the attention in the U.S. landed elsewhere — he said he’s “guilty” of it, too.
“I love American football, that’s what I watch on TV,” he said. “We don’t embrace the niche sports as much as Europeans do, so I think that is a challenge that we need to overcome if we want to replicate the success of Paris.”
Since the London Games in 2012, Channel 4 in the United Kingdom has broadcast the Paralympics on live, linear television. France’s national broadcaster, France Télévisions, had near continuous coverage of the games, but while NBC and Peacock’s Olympic and Paralympic coverage has expanded, there is no guarantee Americans will pay for subscriptions when it’s behind a paywall.
Aaron Phipps, a veteran of Great Britain’s wheelchair rugby team, remembers U.S. athletes excited about being on TV back in 2012: “I was thinking ‘What are you talking about?’ For us, it’s just completely normalized.”
With the Olympics and Paralympics, there’s several weeks of competition for people to pay attention and remain engaged. The Parisian crowds have done it, but can the Southern Californians?
Hoover said with new technology in the works to generate a more interactive experience, Olympic fatigue shouldn’t be an issue. Instead, he thinks fans will be “more excited” because Los Angeles will act as a “home field advantage” for the United States.
With access to Hollywood, Spence said the organizing committee has a chance to make an impact that extends outside Los Angeles — he expects a global cultural shift when it comes to making Paralympic athletes true pop culture stars.
Visibility isn’t a new issue. Scout Bassett, who competed in Rio de Janeiro and is on the athletes' commission for Los Angeles, thinks more work should be done together between Paralympians and Olympians to generate more awareness through already established stars.
“We are a country that celebrates winning, success, and until we start telling these stories and really giving these athletes the opportunities they deserve in that spotlight, that’s the only way we’re going to grow the Paralympics and change the perceptions about people with disabilities,” she said.
Seasoned Paralympians noted most up-and-coming athletes went years without knowing of para sports programs available to them. They say that must change to grow the games.
“My hope is that LA is gonna be this moment for so many people with disabilities to say, ‘Oh gosh, I could compete, there’s something I could do,’” said Chuck Aoki, a veteran of Team USA’s wheelchair rugby team.
The U.S. once again dominated the Summer Olympics medals table in Paris but, in the Paralympics, China has been the leading force since 2004.
“I think we need to go back to the drawing board,” said Jessica Long, one of the most decorated Paralympic swimmers of all-time.
Long doesn’t think the U.S. reached its full potential in Paris and some Paralympians, who were a part of the three-year turnaround from Tokyo, have struggled.
“I think we need to really get on board, the whole U.S., just to showcase what we can do," she said.
For Matt Stutzman, the compound archer gold medalist, it’s a financial issue and athletes could be backed more by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.
“(Money is) the stress – like you basically have to choose between Paralympic sport or supporting your family, and you always gotta pick your family,” Stutzman said.
Medalists from the United States do receive financial bonuses: $38,000 for gold, $23,000 for silver, $15,000 for bronze.
As for Los Angeles, Aoki said reaching the top of the medal table would be tough, but anything is possible.
“Because the reality is, you know, China’s a very large country. The United States is a large country. We have the ability to have athletes contesting every event,” he said. “We just don’t because people don’t know they have access to sport.”
Amanda Vogt is a student at the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State.
AP Paralympics: https://apnews.com/hub/paralympic-games
Fireworks are fired from the Stade du France during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paralympics, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)
Reynold Hoover discusses the Los Angeles 2028 Paralympics at the LA28 office in Paris, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Kileigh Kane)
President of the International Paralympic Committee Andrew Parsons passes the Paralympic flag to Mayor of Los Angeles Karen Bass, second left, after receiving it from Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, not pictured, during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paralympics, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
