More than 420,000 children in the Amazon basin are severely affected by the drought that is burning much of South America and affecting water supplies and river transport, UNICEF said.
A record drought is hitting indigenous peoples and other communities in Brazil, Colombia and Peru that rely on shipping links, the UN agency said.
"We are witnessing the devastation of a key ecosystem that families rely on, leaving many children without access to adequate food, water, health care and schools," UNICEF chief Catherine Russell said in a statement.
According to the agency, the resulting food insecurity increases the risk of malnutrition among children, and less access to drinking water can stimulate the growth of infectious diseases.
In the Brazilian Amazon region alone, more than 1,700 schools and over 760 medical clinics had to close or become inaccessible due to low river levels.
In the Colombian Amazon, lack of drinking water and food forced 130 schools to suspend classes. In Peru, more than 50 clinics were unavailable.
UNICEF said it needed $10 million in the coming months to help affected communities in those three countries, including by providing water and sending health teams.
Weather monitoring agencies such as NASA's Earth Observatory and the EU's Copernicus office say the drought in the Amazon basin since the second half of last year was caused by the 2023-2024 El Niño climate phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean.
According to Brazilian experts, the climate crisis is also to blame for this.
Insufficient rains and shrinking rivers in the vital rainforest have exacerbated wildfires, disrupted electricity generation from hydroelectric plants and dried up crops in parts of Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. | BGNES
