A Taste of an Approaching Climate Dystopia
The Death of the Amazon River Dolphin
'The Amazon region is suffering from a vast drought, which has already resulted in the deaths of hundreds of river dolphins. Researchers are trying to determine if it is a sign that the "tipping point" has been reached.
By Jens Glüsing in Tefé, Brazil
When the moon hangs large and round above the Amazon, the dolphins climb out of the river and transform into handsome young men.
Such is the legend that has been passed down for centuries in villages nestled in the river basin.
It is the best known of the many legends told about the pink river dolphin – which is, says Miriam Marmontel, "the face of the Amazon."
For over 30 years, the 65-year-old marine biologist has been conducting research into the Amazon river dolphin.
Fishermen have told her that the animals sometimes chase fish into their nets, apparently just for the fun of it.
She has dived with them on many occasions, affixing transponders to the animals to see how far they swim.
She has accompanied them by boat countless times.
The walls of her office at the Mamirauá Institute in the jungle city of Tefé are covered with photos from her excursions into the dolphins' habitat.
But for the last several weeks, Marmontel has mostly been counting cadavers.
At least 154 river dolphins died in a two-week period starting at the end of September in Lake Tefé – around 10 percent of the population, Marmontel estimates.
"The animals swam in circles before they died," she says.
"Many of them were no longer able to dive.
They had completely lost their orientation."
Marine biologist Miriam Marmontel: "They had completely lost their orientation." Foto: Jason GulleyFrom Lake to Deathtrap
There is now a large vat on the grass behind Marmontel's laboratory.
When she opens the lid, an appalling odor wafts out.
It is full of dolphin heads.
Because the researcher didn't have enough room for so many dolphin corpses, they cut the heads of the dead animals to examine them.
The lake has always been something of a paradise for the river dolphins.
The giant body of water fed by Rio Solimões – which joins Rio Negro some 500 kilometers further to the east near Manaus to form the Amazon River – is full of fish.
"The lake is like a nursery for the dolphins," says Marmontel.
But in recent weeks, it apparently turned into a deathtrap.
Together with her colleagues, Marmontel set out to learn what caused the mysterious die-off.
They dissected the cadavers, took water samples, analyzed weather and climate conditions and interviewed fishermen and locals.
Was it a virus?
Were they killed by an organic poison used by indigenous tribes for fishing?
Was the lake polluted by pesticides?
Could the dolphins have starved to death?
Ultimately, only one possible explanation remained, says Marmontel: "The animals were victims of climate change."
Examining the cadaver of a river dolphin. Foto: Miguel Monteiro / Instituto MamirauáThe Collapse Can Still Be Stopped
For months, the Amazon region has been suffering from an extreme drought.
Water in the rivers and lakes is lower than it has ever been, and many have dried up completely.
The unusual heat has also led to a rapid rise in water temperatures.
Lago de Tefé is normally between 26 and 32 degrees Celsius, but in late September, the water heated up to 40 degrees (104 degrees Fahrenheit).
"Fresh water dolphins can stand temperatures of up to 38 degrees," says Marmontel.
In contrast to humans, dolphins are not able to regulate their body temperatures through sweating.
"They died of overheating."
The death of the dolphins alarmed scientists around the world.
With their pointy snouts and long, flexible necks, pink river dolphins are perfectly adapted to the rainforest ecosystem.
"They are agile and can effortlessly move between submerged trees," says Marmontel.
But they apparently aren't equipped to deal with climate change.
Is the mass death of dolphins in Lake Tefé a sign that the feared "tipping point" has been reached, the moment when the rain forest can no longer be saved from slowly transforming into a savanna?
Mass dolphin deaths have also been reported in other bodies of water in the Amazon region.
Is it the beginning of a massive die-off of plants and animals?
Luciana Gatti, a scientist at Brazil's National Institute for Space Research, which is one of South America's top climate research institutes, believes that the collapse can still be stopped.
"But we are approaching more and more rapidly the point at which the process will be irreversible."
A stranded ferry on the Negro River in the Amazon region. Numerous villages lack food and drinking water because the waterways have dried up. Foto: Michael Dantas / AFPGatti believes a combination of three factors is responsible for the unusual drought in the rainforest.
The surface of the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of South America has warmed especially strongly this year.
This regularly recurring weather phenomenon, known as El Niño, leads to more rain and possible flooding in the southern part of the continent, but produces heat and dryness in the north.
At the same time, the surface of the North Atlantic has warmed unusually strongly.
That has meant that warm masses of air have pushed into the Amazon region from both directions, lying over the basin like a dome.
"It is raining less because less moisture is coming in from the ocean," says Gatti.
But the largest effect comes from logging.
"Evaporation has decreased because the forest cover has shrunk."
In the southern and southeastern part of the Amazon region, where cattle ranchers and soybean farmers have been particularly aggressive in their clearcutting activities, some 30 percent of the original forest has been destroyed since the 1970s.
"The remaining trees are extremely stressed," says Gatti.
In an article for the scientific journal Nature, a contribution that attracted global attention, she demonstrated that parts of the Amazon region now emit more CO2 than they absorb.
That means that one of the rainforest's most important contributions to the global climate has been destroyed.
"Nature is in complete disarray," Gatti says.
The Chainsaw Lobby
The scientist blames the destruction of the rainforest on Brazil's booming agricultural industry.
Illegal clearcutting essentially went unpunished during the four-year presidency of right-wing populist Jair Bolsonaro, who even encouraged the chainsaw lobby to steal yet more land.
Since the inauguration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on January 1, illegal logging has slowed down, and plans call for it to be stopped entirely by 2030.
But experts are doubtful that will happen.
"The agricultural lobby dominates Congress in Brasília," says Gatti.
She is demanding that an environmental emergency be declared for the entire Amazon region.
"Big farmers who clearcut should be punished by no longer receiving loans."
What the scientist finds particularly disturbing is that the environmental destruction is now taking place in areas of the Amazon that used to be considered sacrosanct – such as the gigantic state of Amazonas, where Lake Tefé is located.
Because road construction in the region is difficult due to the numerous rivers that run through it, most villages are only accessible by boat or airplane.
But that might soon change.
Lobbyists from the agricultural industry have joined local politicians in demanding that the central government build a road from the state capital of Manaus to Porto Velho, 900 kilometers away.
That would create an overland link between the metropolis of Manaus, with its 2 million inhabitants, and the agriculturally developed regions to the south – and likely attract tens of thousands of people in search of grazing and farmland into the once largely unspoiled forest.
Air pollution in Manaus in October: A taste of the future dystopia. Foto: BRUNO KELLY / REUTERSAlready, the authorities are reporting a dramatic increase in the amount of slashing and burning going on in the state.
In October, they counted almost 4,000 fires – compared to 1,500 in the same month last year.
In recent weeks, the residents of Manaus got a taste of the dystopian future facing the Amazon region if the clearing of the forest isn't stopped: For weeks, the city lay under a thick blanket of smoke and dust, making it difficult to breathe.
A dust storm developed in the middle of the city.
The smoke was from neighboring states, where residents were burning the vegetation to make room for farmland or construction.
On top of that are the consequences of the drought: Water levels in the Port of Manaus fell in October to an historic low of 13.5 meters, more than four meters lower than October 2022.
Instead of oceangoing freighters and passenger ships, the port is now home to sandbanks.
In the factories located in the city's free-trade zone, where industrial goods can be produced at a lower tax rate, workers are being laid off because the products can no longer be transported.
A number of factories have temporarily suspended production.
Numerous cities and villages further inland, which are normally supplied by ship, are currently suffering from food and drinking water shortages because the waterways have dried up.
Homes on the riverbanks have collapsed because the ground has grown unstable.
"Our River Has Simply Disappeared"
In Tefé, a city of 60,000 people, the army is arranging the transportation of drinking water and basic food supplies to residents of the surrounding communities.
The lake has shrunk so much that it is possible to cross it at some points on foot or with a car.
"I've never experienced such a drought," says Erivan dos Santos, who runs a small farm.
He lives together with his wife, three children and two grandchildren at the mouth of an Igarapé, as the water arterials of the jungle are called.
Today, it is a desert-like landscape.
"Our river has simply disappeared," Santos complains.
The family used to get its drinking water from a well, but now, they have to buy it in the city.
"Because of the drought, all products have become more expensive," he says.
A large number of dolphins died in a cove not far from his house.
"It was a place where dolphin mothers would raise their young," says Marmontel, the marine biologist.
In a hushed voice, she describes how the animals sought shelter in the shallow water.
When the mass die off began, Marmontel assembled a rapid-reaction force to try to save the dolphins.
"We thought about moving them to the Rio Solimões, where the water is deeper and cooler," she says.
But at the time, it seemed risky.
"We didn't yet know why the dolphins were dying.
If they were dying because of a virus, they would have infected healthy animals and spread the disease further."
Nevertheless, they decided to lead the animals to deeper water, a move that saved the lives of a number of dolphins.
"But some of them swam back.
We don't know why."
Currently, researchers and members of environmental protection organizations are receiving training in capturing and moving individual dolphins.
Specialists who have amassed experience in saving marine mammals on Brazil's southwestern coast are demonstrating how to lay the animals on a mattress in the boat and keep them calm until they can be released elsewhere.
Because the dolphins are extremely susceptible to stress, the saviors-in-training are practicing with inflatable plastic models.
Marmontel is hoping that it won't actually become necessary to put the training into use.
Water levels have begun rising again at the Colombian border, 500 kilometers upriver, according to officials there.
And even though it has hardly rained at all, temperatures in Lake Tefé have dropped in recent weeks to between 32 and 37 degrees Celsius because of cloudy skies.
But it's unclear if it will remain that way.
"Three sunny days in a row would drive the temperature back up to 40 degrees," says Marmontel – which would result in more dolphin deaths.
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