(9 Sep 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mariano Roque Alonso, Paraguay – 9 September 2024
1. Various of the dry banks of the Paraguay River ++MUTE++
2. Barges on shallow water
3. Various of fishing boats
4. A man fishing as a cargo ship passes
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Asuncion, Paraguay – 9 September 2024
5. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Jorge Sánchez, deputy director of hydrology of the Meteorology and Hydrology Directorate:
"The two most important rivers, the Paraguay and Paraná, are affected by a water crisis, but where it is most notable is the Paraguay River. At this moment the main port of Asunción has values that have passed a historical record. We woke up with -0.89 meters, which until today is the lowest record of the 100 years of data that the port has."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mariano Roque Alonso, Paraguay – 9 September 2024
6. Fishing boats
7. A crane bird
8. Various of fishermen
9. SOUNDBITE (Guarani) Fermín Giménez, sailor:
"This is the first time we have this low level, is what we can say. We are waiting for a lot of rain to see if the river rises a little. I no longer know where to take the boat I am in charge of; there is no more water in the river, so I will continue waiting here."
10. A man walks in the dry banks of the Paraguay river
11. A cargo ship
STORYLINE:
A powerful drought in the Amazon rainforest led on Monday to the lowest water levels on the Paraguay River in more than a century, disrupting commerce on the central waterway, creating hazards for local transport, and offering a grim warning for other parts of the world.
Paraguay’s Department of Meteorology and Hydrology reported that water levels on the country’s namesake river, a regional economic lifeline, dipped 89 centimeters (35 inches) below the meter’s benchmark at the port of Asunción, hitting the lowest point in 120 years.
The previous record-breaking drop occurred just three years ago, in October 2021 — a sign, experts say, of how increasingly frequent and intense droughts are starving the region’s waterways.
The most immediate effect is being felt across landlocked Paraguay, one of the world’s leading exporters of agricultural commodities, which relies on the river to move 80% of its international commerce.
On Monday, dozens of fishing boats that generally ply the waterway sat on nearly bone-dry banks of sand.
Originating in Brazil, the Paraguay-Paraná waterway runs 3,400 kilometers (2,112 miles) through Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia and into the open seas, making the region a vital commodity transport hub.
Experts said the drying of the Paraguay River — as with other rivers from Colorado to France to Brazil’s Amazon — reflects how population growth, climate change, and deforestation have conspired with weak governance and inefficient irrigation practices to transform landscapes, upending delicate ecosystems and sending scores of communities scrambling for fresh water.
AP Video Emilio Sanabria
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