Smoke shrouds Brazilian city as Amazon burns
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00:00On the banks of the Madeira River in the Brazilian Amazon, boats are becoming stranded.
00:06Their movement impeded by sandbars, rocky outcrops and low water levels.
00:12Just a year on from Brazil's worst drought in history, it's a foreboding sign.
00:16And fears are high that this year's dry season could be worse than the last.
00:20There are rocky corners where we pass really slow so that we can avoid the worst from happening.
00:28We have to protect our lives and the lives of our passengers.
00:32To make matters worse, vision is obstructed by the thick clouds of smoke
00:36that have also blanketed the nearby city of Porto Velho.
00:40The city has gone two months without significant rainfall
00:43and now residents are struggling to breathe after the region's worst period of wildfires in nearly two decades.
00:50According to data collected by Brazil's INPA Space Research Institute,
00:54the Amazon as a whole recorded more than 42,000 forest fires between January and August,
01:0187 per cent higher than the same period in 2023.
01:05On Tuesday, the country's Environment Minister issued a reminder
01:08that these events are linked to climate change
01:10and that world leaders need to limit global temperatures.
01:15We're already living with the effects of climate change,
01:17what's happening in the Amazon, too much drought, too much rain and humanity paying a very high price.
01:25Scientists have warned that if Earth surpasses the established 1.5 degrees Celsius warming threshold,
01:31humanity will face more extreme and irreversible events,
01:35such as increased and more frequent droughts and wildfires.