Health Risks to Amazon Women and Adaptation of Riverine Communities to Dry Hazards

2026-07-22

The Amazon River Basin is under threat due to climate change, deforestation, and forest fire. Hydroclimatic records show an increase in both the duration and intensity of droughts with remarkable events occurring in the past 20 years in the region. Climate projections indicate overall drier conditions for most of the Amazon in the next decades, together with a higher frequency of extremes such as droughts and floods. By means of positive feedback between climate change and deforestation, changes in precipitation, evapotranspiration, and air temperature exacerbate extreme droughts, which frequently co-occurs with heatwaves and forest fires, the three of them being referred to as dry hazards. Compound dry hazards pose health impacts that can be felt differently according to gender, with increasing evidence suggesting that women suffer more intensively because of social norms regarding gender roles as well as due to physiological factors related to reproductive health. HER-AWARD (Health Risks to Amazon Women and Adaptation of Riverine Communities to Dry Hazards) is an interdisciplinary research project aimed to elucidate the intersectional dimensions of health risks associated with dry hazards among women from riverine communities of the BR Amazon. The project seeks to understand the overlapping impacts of compound dry hazards and their cascading effects on women's health. The research is organized into primary components that explore two different spatial scales: starting from a basin-wide perspective and zooming in to a community level. By integrating these scopes, HER-AWARD aims to generate actionable insights and inform effective interventions tailored to the unique needs of riverine women in the Amazon, grounded on scientific and local knowledge through a gender lens. The project is based on an interdisciplinary methodology, combining large-scale environmental modelling, hydrological and spatial analysis, as well as case study social science methods.

Germany

2025-10-01