World’s Largest Wetland, Pantanal, Faces Record Number of Fires
BRASILIA (Reuters) – In the first few days of November, the number of fires in Brazil’s Pantanal, the largest wetland on the planet, surged to unprecedented levels, breaking the record for the month since monitoring began in 1998, according to data from the space research agency Inpe.
The 2,387 fires recorded by Inpe in early November is more than double October’s figure and accounts for over half of the total fires seen this year so far. On Sunday, Inpe detected 706 active fires.
Compared to 2022, the fires have more than tripled in the Pantanal, which was mild compared to the two previous years.
Weather experts attribute the sharp increase in fires to the El Nino phenomenon, which has been aggravated by climate change.
Vinicius Silgueiro, a coordinator at the Centro de Vida Institute, noted, “We’re experiencing a very unusual November due to the effects of climate change and El Nino: very high temperatures at a time when we would have already had rain and higher air humidity. There was sporadic rainfall at the end of October, but two or three days after it stopped, the fires came back.”
The previous record for fires in November, set in 2002, was 2,328, and historically, November averages 442 hotspots.
In response to the escalating crisis, the federal government has intensified firefighting efforts in the region, with nearly 300 personnel tackling the blazes and an additional four aircraft deployed.
Silgueiro also emphasized the ecological impact of the fires, stating, “Much of the area that had burned in 2020 is burning again. These are areas that had just started natural regeneration. The government must prepare for a recurring risk as a result of the climate crisis, which requires measures to prepare, prevent, and respond. Even more so in a biome that has lost 57% of its surface water since 1985.”
The situation in the Pantanal is a stark reminder of the urgent need for proactive environmental policies in the face of climate change.
(Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu; Editing by Gerry Doyle)
