This is a series of cebass on the world the new world report with Professor

Avanellis of the US Army War College. Brasilia, the capital of Brazil.

Reuters, last year's record drought in the Amazon and less than usual rainfall

since caused river water levels to drop rapidly, hindering navigation by barges, carrying grains for

export and cutting off communities.

The Brazilian Geological Service, reports Reuters, has warned that water levels have been falling since June

and all rivers in the Amazon Basin are expected to drop below their

historical levels. That is trouble enough but there's also this.

Brazil's Amazon rainforest fires in August reached 14 year high.

Last year's rains came late and were weaker than usual goes the report from Sao Paulo.

Because a weather pattern known as El Nino was supercharged by climate change, leaving the rain

forests especially vulnerable to this year's fires. So the logic here is

L'Nino because of climate change dried out the forest, the water dropped because there was no rainfall, so we have a

navigation interruption, a lifestyle introduction, and the Amazon is burning.

Professor, this describes the sort of thing that would be the opening act in a Hollywood thriller where our hero, let's call him Brad Pitt,

would find a way to make the skies open up and rain.

Not too much, however, because we've seen what the flooding did in Brazil recently.

Is this business as usual in Brazil? I'm unfamiliar. They're dealing with a beautiful

landscape in the Amazon, but it seems untamed.

Well, I think John, as you pointed out, that you're seeing what appears to be an increasing

incidence of these severe weather phenomenums that are predicted to come with global warming.

And you've seen that on both extremes.

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