On the Impact of Brazil's Largest Recent Oil Spill on Regional Oceans

Abstract

In 2019, an oil spill in Brazil, of unknown origin, severely impacted coastal environs with the worst environmental disaster ever recorded in any tropical coastal region globally severely damaging South Pirangi Reef area in the state of Rio Grande do Norte (RN). Here we discuss acute and chronic impacts including chemical contamination and economic consequences all over the world and show some evidence of the oil spill in this biodiverse area. Moreover, the lapse between the moment of the disaster, and the action to manage it, was hampered by a political agenda coinciding with local and global tragedies that redirected public attention. Meanwhile almost 2 years have passed still without the offending party identification or culpability; and poor communities may continue to absorb its deleterious impacts for decades without consideration or compensation. This disaster occurred during the Brazilian government’s current issues involving extensive environmental mismanagement, resulting in a slow response from an inept system. It is with urgent necessity to spotlight this tragedy in this unique and sensitive reef habitat experiencing the ongoing damaging effects that include socio-economic losses not yet addressed.

Severe ecological impacts caused by one of the worst orphan oil spills worldwide

“…To identify articles overlooked during the first selection step, we also consulted the references cited in each relevant official report (IBAMA, 2019), article, and review (Magris and Giarrizzo, 2020;Soares et al 2020aSoares et al , 2020bSoares et al , 2022Lourenço et al, 2020;Mendes et al, 2021;Campelo et al, 2021;Cerqueira, 2021). All papers with a Portuguese/English title and abstract were manually screened for content, and the selected papers were downloaded and examined individually (54 articles).…”

“…Orphan oil spill impacts, such as this, can affect coastal and marine biodiversity in terms of their structure, functioning, and ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration (Rohal et al, 2020a;. Despite the advances made in previous studies (Soares et al 2020a, Magalhães et al, 2021Mendes et al, 2021), a systematic review of the impacts of the spill on biodiversity is lacking. Previous reviews and perspectives have focused on the slowness, lack of coordination, and mismanagement of the Brazilian federal government in remediating the oil spill.…”

2021 Brazil experiences second major oil spill and ecological disaster

“…Over time, this scenario may accelerate coral reef erosion, surpassing the rate at which coral structures can calcify, ultimately diminishing the competitive capacity of coral species for space. [60][61][62][63][64] For corals and other calcifying organisms, such as sea urchins and crustaceans, decreased calcification brings about several consequences, including increased vulnerability of corals to bleaching and disease. It also diminishes the organisms' ability to defend themselves against predators, compete for food and habitat, and alter their behavior patterns.…”