As
 announced on Monday, September 6, a severe dry period has resulted in 
the parching of Brazil’s flora- and fauna-rich Amazon basin forest and 
Pantanal area, with officials calling it the worst since 1973. 
The
 arid conditions have also sparked some 1,200 wildfires, prompting an 
environmental emergency to be declared in 15 of the nation’s 26 states. 
Having just faced historic floods in 2009 due to a record rise in Amazon
 River water levels, several communities in Amazonas state now find 
themselves facing the opposite extreme as they have been isolated by 
drought and can no longer be accessed by boat, only by foot through the 
forest. 
Water navigation in general has been seriously hampered,
 with the Juruá River nearly run dry and water levels of Pantanal’s 
Chacore Bay, the third largest in Brazil, having dropped significantly. 
Over
 80,000 people are currently estimated to have been affected, and the 
regional government is sending food and water supplies. Meanwhile in 
neighboring Peru, the Amazon River is noted to be at its lowest level in
 40 years, with officials expressing concern over expected food 
shortages and disease as they brace for an extended dry period similar 
to one that occurred five years ago. 
Robert Falcon of Peru's 
civil defense agency said, “The scientists are already saying that 
because of climate change these events will become more frequent.” 
We
 appreciate the efforts of the Brazilian government and other officials 
to ease this challenging situation as we join in concern for the grave 
effects of these climate-related changes. 
Let us all strive to 
foster a more balanced ecosphere for the survival and comfort of all 
life on Earth. In an October 2009 address to government magistrates and 
judges in Mexico, Supreme Master Ching Hai spoke of the dire effects of 
climate change, while appealing for the swift measures necessary to 
effectively halt them.
Supreme Master Ching Hai:
 Once towering glaciers are receding so fast that over 2 billion people 
are already short of water and food. Many more suffer shortage as tens 
of thousands of rivers and waters are gone or drying. 
At this 
most urgent time for the planet, I beseech your honorable graces to 
please help your country and our world spare lives from the impending 
global warming calamity. 
If you don’t, there will be too massive
 a catastrophe, too immense a suffering upon people, families, the 
children, that our conscience might never be able to bear it.
We 
cannot wait for the sustainable energy and green technology to be 
available and used by everyone. It would be too late. We must become 
vegan to save our planet.
http://www.mysinchew.com/node/44603?tid=37http://www.france24.com/en/20100907-drought-brazils-amazon-basin-forest-pantanalhttp://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFN0315683020100903