Advancement of the sea leaves açaí salty and riverside people without water at the mouth of the Amazon

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Located at the mouth of the Amazon, the Bailique archipelago (Amapá) has its main source of income in the imposing native açaí groves. But the rise in the level of the Atlantic Ocean is salinizing the world’s most voluminous river, salting the purple fruit and threatening the very permanence of the estimated 14,000 residents, who have been left without drinking water.

The onslaught of the sea on the river has always occurred in the region, where it gained the local name of launching tide or haul. The problem is that it has been happening with increasing force and for longer. This year, for the first time, all 58 communities, spread over eight islands, were affected, leading the city of Macapá to declare a situation of emergency.

“This has always been the case, but it did not enter the archipelago, it was only in coastal communities. Last year, it took a third of the Bailique. This year, it took the entire archipelago”, says the president of the açaí producers’ cooperative Amazonbai, Amiraldo de Lima Picanço, 35.

According to residents, the Amazon began to get salty from August onwards. On October 14, the mayor of Macapá, Dr. Furlan (Citizenship), declared an emergency situation in the district to speed up the distribution of water and basic food baskets, taken by boat from the city, about 180 km away, a 12-hour trip. .

The impact also advances on the açaí groves. According to Picanço, who is a forestry engineer, fruits harvested closer to the coast salted more than ten years ago, and the phenomenon is intensifying. One of the 132 producers of Amazonbai has already registered the problem in part of his açaí.

“The sea water is invading, and the açaí will suffer changes. We know that the açaí berry consumes a lot of water.

The threat comes at a time when Amazonbai is going through a phase of consolidation and expansion. After years of predatory exploitation of the açaí palm, the producers organized themselves and began to extract the fruit through minimal impact management. The forest is still standing, and the main intervention is cleaning the area, through pruning.

The cooperative was the first organization in the country to have FSC (Forest Management Council) certification of ecosystem services for the conservation of forest carbon stocks and species diversity.

In all, there are 2,972 hectares of açaí groves certified by the international entity, including the chain of custody seal.

In another achievement of the cooperative members, on December 10, Amazonbai opened an agro-industry in Macapá to benefit part of the production and which also serves as a warehouse, taking away the bargaining power of middlemen.

Despite the good practices and the good economic moment of açaí, the residents suffer from the precarious structure. Homes rely on power from gasoline-powered generators, with their price becoming increasingly prohibitive. There is no proper sewage system. The nearest hospital is in Macapá.

With regard to the water crisis, riverside dwellers complain that, in all these months, each family received only a single shipment of 15 packages of mineral water, which add up to 135 liters. They also claim that the water brought in by boat tanks and distributed by the state government, led by Waldez Góes (PDT) is ferrous and of poor quality.

The bath is usually with brackish water, which makes the body sticky and smells similar to marine fish. To mitigate the scarcity, many collect rainwater or go by canoe to uncontaminated streams.

A doctor at the local health center, Cuban Pedro Sarduy says that the consumption of inappropriate water has caused vomiting, diarrhea and skin problems. He says that many residents do not have the money to buy gallons of water, which contain 20 liters and cost about R$25.

“I recommend boiling water, but people don’t because gas is expensive,” he says.

According to the WHO (World Health Organization), each person needs to use 50 to 100 liters of water a day.

The undersecretary for management and planning of Mobilization and Popular Participation, Emanuel Bentes, said that the calculation of mineral water was only for hydration. Regarding the water sent by the state government, he acknowledged that it has a ferrous taste, but assured that it is fit for human consumption.

Bentes says that the construction and maintenance of pipelines in the region is hampered by the phenomenon known as fallen lands, quite common in the great Amazonian rivers, where ravines collapse under the influence of the current.

To make matters worse, a technical study commissioned by the city hall concluded that desalination is unfeasible in Bailique, due to the high turbidity of the muddy Amazon River. According to Bentes, the solution will be to improve the capture of rainwater in the communities.

dark future

Oceanologist Wilson Cabral, from ITA (Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica) assesses that the mouth of the Amazon is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change in the country, as it is in the area of ​​influence of both the ocean and the continent. Also, they are lowlands.

“The range of saline intrusion at the mouth of the Amazon River increases as the sea level rises. This generates effects over kilometers and kilometers inland”, says Cabral, who is participating in a study on the impact of climate change on the neighboring island of Marajó.

These effects are not restricted to the surface and include the penetration of saline water into the water table.

“This will impact all the processes that depend on it, from the capture of water, via waterholes and wells, to cultures, such as the açaí berry”, he says.

According to the oceanologist, another negative impact in the region is the hydroelectric dams in the Amazon rivers, which prevent the arrival of sediments. “This solid discharge is responsible for the formation of land at the mouth. If there is a reduction in this contribution of sediments, coastal erosion increases.”

“We are looking for solutions to not leave our territory”, says Picanço.

For leadership, certification for ecosystem services demonstrates that cooperative members are aligned with the guidelines provided by COP26, the UN climate conference. “We can be a model for other regions. We are going to help Rio de Janeiro, Miami. We are doing our part.”

The reporters Fabiano Maisonnave and Adriano Vizoni traveled to Bailique at the invitation of Imaflora (Forest and Agricultural Management and Certification Institute).

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