Climate change represents an
ever-evolving challenge.
Global warming is causing devastating impacts on the environment, people’s lives, and the global economy. Urgent and concrete actions must be taken to mitigate the effects of rising temperatures.
We all know that the Amazon is already suffering the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation. The people who live in and depend on the forest are already facing rising temperatures, severe droughts, and shifting rainfall patterns, which are directly affecting the economic and social development of cities and developing nations.
Many people are concerned about the preservation of forests — and rightly so. There is a vital interdependence between humans and the forest: humans cannot survive without it, just as the forest cannot survive without humans. During photosynthesis, plants absorb COâ‚‚ and release Oâ‚‚; in respiration, the opposite occurs. The cycle of life is completed as human beings inhale the oxygen produced by plants and exhale the COâ‚‚ that plants absorb. This is the essence of our life cycle.
It is also important to highlight the role of water throughout this process. Water is changing, and that changes everything. Growing water scarcity and increasingly unpredictable rainfall are making life much harder in many parts of the world.
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A call for the World
Climate change is no longer a future threat. In the Amazon, its impacts are real, growing, and felt daily by the populations who depend on the forest and its natural resources.
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Rising temperatures, severe droughts, out-of-season floods, and disrupted rainfall cycles have directly affected biodiversity, food security, water supply, agricultural production, and the quality of life of Amazonian communities.
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In the Vale do Juruá, in Acre, residents report profound environmental changes: the disappearance of local wildlife, declining fish populations, and increasing difficulty maintaining traditional ways of life rooted in balance with the forest.
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Protecting the Amazon means more than protecting trees — it means protecting people, cultures, and entire territories that depend on the forest to exist.
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Faced with this reality, the Institute for Socio-Environmental Development of the Amazon (IDAAM) issues a call to national and international society to support community-led initiatives focused on environmental conservation, forest restoration, food security, bioeconomy strengthening, and the valorization of traditional Amazonian knowledge.
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The climate crisis demands collective action, international cooperation, and direct investment in the communities that have historically served as guardians of the forest.
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There are many ways to contribute:
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Support community projects · Invest in reforestation and sustainable production · Strengthen community-based tourism initiatives · Share technical expertise · Promote training and exchange programs · Support initiatives for traditional Amazonian peoples.
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Words matter, but they are no longer enough. Climate change is transforming the Amazon right now.
Impact of Climate Change in the Vale do Juruá
(Photo: Alexandre Cruz Noronha/Sema)
In recent years, traditional communities in the Vale do Juruá have been facing increasingly intense environmental changes. Among the main observed impacts are rising temperatures, shifts in rainfall cycles, extreme floods and droughts, reduced biodiversity, and damage to agricultural production and river transportation.
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According to Edelson Silva, a resident of the Nova Era Community, the environmental transformations have already become part of daily life for riverside families:
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"The weather has changed. Temperatures are much higher. Many forest animals have disappeared. Fish populations have dropped significantly, and the river no longer behaves as it used to. When it floods, it floods badly; when it runs low, water is scarce in several stretches. Crops are suffering greatly from the heat. Today, if you don't tend to them constantly, many plants die. It is a worrying situation for all of us."
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Extreme events have also become more frequent. In March 2025 and May 2026, out-of-season flooding struck communities in the Rio Crôa region, flooding homes, destroying crops, and significantly altering the natural characteristics of the river.
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These impacts underscore the urgency of strengthening climate adaptation strategies, environmental conservation, and direct support for Amazonian communities.
(Photo: Alexandre Cruz Noronha/Sema — Deforestation and wildfires have intensified in the Vale do Juruá in recent years, threatening one of the last well-preserved forest areas of the Amazon.)