Brazil deforestation worsens El Nino impacts

A MapBiomas study revealed that Brazil has lost native vegetation covering an area more than twice the size of France over the past four decades, reducing native cover from 79% to 65% of the country's territory. The losses were concentrated in the Amazon rainforest and the Cerrado Gold savanna, largely converted to agriculture and livestock, which now occupy 32% of Brazil, up from 18% in 1985. The study found that deforested areas experienced more severe impacts during the 2023-2024 El Nino, including greater rainfall drops in the Amazon and excess rainfall in southern agricultural regions, contributing to historic floods in Rio Grande that killed around 200 people. As Brazil braces for a potentially strong El Nino, with Pacific sea-surface temperatures forecast to exceed 2°C above average, the Brazilian Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock warned that a 'super El Nino' could affect crops such as coffee, soy, and sugar. Researchers, including MapBiomas coordinator Tasso Azevedo, emphasized that land-use decisions can amplify the local effects of El Nino, though they do not alter the phenomenon itself.