Brazil loses over 15% water surface area in thirty years, report says

Brazil has lost 15% of water surface area in 30 years, according to data released by a network of nonprofits, universities and technology companies that studies Brazilian land use.

The MapBiomas Project analyzed satellite images between 1985 and 2020 and identified a water reduction in 8 out of 12 hydrographic regions in all the country’s biomes.

Project Manager for WWF-Brazil, Cassio Bernardino, who worked on the project, said they were surprised and even shocked with the data saying that these “largest continental wetlands on the planet” showed the greatest variation, “with a reduction of 74% on its water surface”.