Devastating Impact of Wildfire Smoke on Indigenous South Americans Revealed by New Study

Indigenous people in the Amazon Basin are twice as likely to die prematurely from smoke exposure caused by wildfires as the broader South American population, according to a study by researchers from Harvard University and the Columbia Climate School’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

The study identified regions in Peru, Bolivia and Brazil as particular hotspots for smoke exposure, with some mortality rates rising to six times that of the general population.

Smoke from wildfires in South America caused approximately 12,000 premature deaths annually from 2014 to 2019, with about 230 of those deaths occurring in Indigenous territories.

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