MapBiomas Water Platform Amazon Countries launched on Wednesday (20)

The launch of the MapBiomas Water Platform for the Amazon Countries took place on Wednesday, September 20 of this year.

The historical average water surface in this vast region for the period between 2000 and 2022 is 25.4 million hectares (Mha). But in the last decade, all the Amazon countries have seen a reduction in surface water. When comparing the average of the last decade with the historical average for the period, 1 million hectares of water surface were lost in the nine Amazonian countries. This is despite the gain of 747,000 ha (compared to the historical average) recorded in 2022, which brought the total water surface area to 26.2 Mha, representing 2% of the territory analyzed.

Brazil was largely responsible for this gain in 2022: 910,000 ha more water surface were identified last year compared to the historical average of 17.9 Mha of water surface. The 18.8 Mha recorded in 2022 in Brazil represent 72% of the total water surface of the Amazon countries.

The gain in water surface area in Brazil in 2022 is more than four times the total water surface area in Ecuador last year (227,000 ha). On the other hand, Peru lost the most water surface in this period: 124,000 ha, a relative loss of 7% compared to its historical average (1.8 Mha).

In general, however, the nine Amazonian countries have undergone a series of critical transformations in their water resources over the last two decades that have resulted in a general trend of shrinking water surface area. For Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, French Guiana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela, the interval between 2013 and 2021 was identified as the period with the lowest water surface in the historical series analyzed.

“En nuestra región, hay tres países que han mostrado una reducción en su superficie de agua durante todo el período entre 2000 y 2022: Ecuador, Perú y Bolivia. Los otros seis países mostraron un período de aumento y otro de disminución en el área de superficie de agua en relación con el promedio histórico, que ocurrió entre 2013 y 2021, con tendencias similares, pero de magnitudes variables”, comenta Eva Mollinedo, de la Fundación Amigos de la Naturaleza (FAN-Bolivia) y miembro del equipo de MapBiomas Agua Países Amazónicos.

>> Main highlights of water surface dynamics in Amazon countries (2000 to 2022)

The reduction in the water surface is also evident in a sustained trend of glacial melting which, between 1985 and 2022, led to the loss of an area of 184,000 hectares of glaciers, which is equivalent to 56% of the area detected in 1985. All Andean countries suffered glacier loss during this period. The greatest extent was in Peru, which lost 115,000 hectares; while Venezuela, the country with the least glacial coverage, suffered the greatest loss at 97% (82 hectares).

“Esta disminución podría tener un impacto económico en las poblaciones de los Andes tropicales, con efectos en la agricultura, el suministro de agua potable y la integridad de los ecosistemas”, según Juliano Schirmbeck de Geokarten (Brasil) y miembro del equipo de MapBiomas Agua Países Amazónicos. “Los glaciares tropicales han sufrido pérdidas de área en respuesta al aumento de las temperaturas causadas por el acelerado cambio climático global. Estos glaciares tropicales se consideran una especie de ‘termómetro’ para la Tierra, ya que su expansión o reducción está estrechamente relacionada con el clima global”, agrega.

“Todo esto agrava los problemas de salud y las dificultades para acceder a alimentos, lo que es más perjudicial para las poblaciones con menos recursos económicos. Esta disminución en la superficie de agua contribuye a la proliferación de incendios forestales y emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero, lo que afecta tanto a la biodiversidad como a las comunidades locales”, comenta Carlos Souza Jr., de Imazon-Brazil y miembro del equipo de MapBiomas Agua Países Amazónicos.

The MapBiomas Water Amazon Countries initiative has been developed collaboratively by civil society organizations in the region that have a deep knowledge of the particularities of their respective countries: members of the RAISG in Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela . The interpretation of the data is carried out in a participatory manner, adjusting the methodology to obtain a standardized product for the region. It is the first time that the coverage of water surface mapping has been expanded to encompass all Amazonian countries.

The MapBiomas Water project has developed a series of maps that retrospectively document the water surface in the Amazon countries between 2000 and 2022. These maps use satellite images and machine learning techniques to identify water pixels with high precision. The use of advanced technology, such as Google Earth Engine, has enabled the creation of the first surface water dataset covering all Amazonian countries. Water detection is based on sub-pixel level classification methods, using fuzzy logic, decision trees and post-classification procedures. This monthly and annual data offers an unprecedented and detailed understanding of water dynamics in the region.