Climate Change affects on Latin America
Droughts
Notable recent droughts are those that afflicted the Amazon in 2005 and 2010 and a drought in Southeastern Brazil that has extended from 2012 to late 2015. After four years of below normal rainfall São Paulo, Brazil was experiencing its worst drought in over 80 years by mid-2015. The city’s main water system, the Cantareira reservoir, supports the water needs of 5.3 million people, but by August 2015 it was at record low levels with less than 17% of its normal water capacitydown from the 9 million before the drought.
Sea Level Rise
Sea level rise is caused primarily by two factors related to global warming: the added water from melting ice sheets and glaciers, and the expansion of seawater as it warms.
The IPCC states sea levels threaten the Latin American population—a large proportion of which lives on the coast—by contaminating freshwater aquifers, eroding shorelines, inundating low-lying areas, and increasing the risks of storm surges, according to one assessment.
Ocean Acidification
The massive amount of carbon dioxide being absorbed by the ocean dissolves in seawater as carbonic acid. This process is known as ocean acidification, and it's literally causing a sea change that is threatening the fundamental chemical balance of ocean and coastal waters from pole to pole.
Much of the coastal area surrounding the Mesoamerican reef and nearby islands is low-lying and vulnerable to sea level rise from climate change. Rising water temperatures cause more episodes of coral bleaching, which is devastating to reefs and the wildlife that depend on them. Ocean acidification, caused by increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide in the water, also threatens the coral reefs.
Central Chile Mega Drought
The “Central Chile Mega Drought” continued in 2021, at 13 years to date, this constitutes the longest drought in this region in at least one thousand years, exacerbating a drying trend and putting Chile at the forefront of the region’s water crisis. Additionally, a multi-year drought in the Parana-La Plata Basin, the worst since 1944, affected central-southern Brazil and parts of Paraguay and Bolivia.
Damages to Agriculture
The Parana-La Plata basin drought-induced damages to agriculture reduced crop production, including soybean and corn, affecting global crop markets. In South America overall, drought conditions led to a decline of -2.6% in the 2020-2021 cereal harvest compared with the previous season.
Migration and Population Displacement
The Andes, northeast Brazil and the northern countries in Central America are among the most sensitive regions to climatic-related migrations and displacements, a phenomenon that has increased in last 8 years. Migration and population displacement have multiple causes. Climate change and associated extreme events are amplifying factors, which exacerbate social, economic and environmental drivers.