More than a thousand communities in Brazil are currently in a state of alarm due to the very low humidity compared to that of deserts such as Saharain a period in which the country faces historical dimensions drought and successive fires.

The affected zones are mainly located in the central region of the country, particularly in Brasilia, and in its southeastern part, in the highly populated states of São Paulo and Minas Gerais.

The percentage of humidity there is below 12%, i.e. below the limit set by the World Health Organization, according to data published by the National Institute of Meteorology Inmet.

This is a “very dangerous” situation, according to this public body, because it creates a “high risk of forest fires” but also “for health”, as residents are exposed to “pulmonary diseases” or “headaches”.

In dozens of communities, humidity fell below the 10% mark, even reaching 7%.

This is a level “as low” as the level of humidity in the Sahara, Ana Paula Cunha, a researcher at the National Center for the Monitoring of Natural Disasters (Cemaden), told AFP.

According to her, Brazil is experiencing its worst drought “in at least 70 years” due to “the accumulated lack of rainfall” since late last year.

The country has been hit for months by a wave of large-scale fires in the Amazon (north), home to the world’s largest rainforest, the Pantanal (central west) and more recently in the state of São Paulo (southeast).

Huge clouds of smoke from these fires have covered major cities such as the capital Brasilia, where it has not rained for 130 days.

The combination of high temperatures, strong winds and low humidity creates a “context very favorable for new fires,” warned Brazil’s Environment Minister Marina Silva in a recent interview with AFP.

Only two of the 27 territories that make up Brazil “are not seriously affected by major water shortages,” he said.

During a meeting yesterday, Wednesday, in the Senate, Marina Silva warned that the Pantanal, the world’s largest wetland and biodiversity haven, may have disappeared “by the end of the century” if the drought persists and these climate phenomena “become more and more seriously and often”.

Brazil faced another climate crisis in May, when floods caused major damage in the south of the country, killing 180 people.

The scientific community attributes these extreme climate events to the El Niño meteorological phenomenon associated with global warming.

At the end of 2025, Brazil will host COP30, the United Nations climate conference, in the Amazonian city of Belem.