© AFP
Perhaps the title of this note calls attention, but ecologists have long warned about the flammability in the sowing of resinous plant species and the demand for water in the mode of production carried out in the province of Corrientes.
I find it hard to believe get confused a “forest monoculture of exotic species” with a “forest”, which is natural, and has at least five strata with a biodiversity of fauna and flora achieved over millions of years. It is not the same nor is its ecosystemic complexity replaced simply by planting trees.
To solve environmental problems we have to begin to recognize the difference and call things by their name. These forest monocultures are artificial, and are mostly made up of pines that come from the United States of America or Canada, and native eucalyptus from Australia. They are exotic tree species that grow rapidly, are used for a productive purpose as raw material for sawmills, pulp mills or other industries and develop a great need for virtual water in their life cycle. To the replace natural ecosystemsthese non-native species leave a huge water footprint in the area where they are implanted.
The fires in Corrientes affected 40% of the Iberá National Park: “The impact is incalculable”
I chatted with the great naturalist Claudio Bertonatti, from the Azara Foundation, who has been committed to environmental education for decades, like me. He shared his reflections with me, with which I agree. He wrote about it and generously offered to make his words my own. The truth is that the photos and videos that show the fires in Corrientes they reflect something that seemed impossible to imagine: the province with the most water in Argentina, that of the estuaries par excellence, covered by flames, smoke and ashes. And not only in dry wetlands, but also on the banks of streams and rivers, in forests, in gallery riparian forests and even in threatened cultivated fields and weeds.
Two ingredients were added to the flammable cocktail: an extraordinarily prolonged drought caused by “La Niña” and multiple fire. The progressively dry wetlands were unable to stop the advance of each igneous focus. The animals of the estuaries were surrounded and were expelled by the flames. A part of the fauna escaped as best it could, alligators, capybaras, river otters, curiyú boas… The other, with low escape capacity, amphibian or exclusively aquatic, was incinerated. Even for fast-reacting land animals, escaping from this situation is almost an impossible mission, because the ground remains so hot that it burns and kills like the flames themselves. It is impossible to get closer than fifty meters without the heat hurting or hurting. Tens of thousands of hectares of native forests that were green months ago are now yellow, dry or reduced to dust. In those woods lives an iconic species, the carayá monkey (declared Provincial Natural Monument). Now he has no food, because he depends heavily on green leaves, his main food. Its future is uncertain, but without a doubt, this desperate situation represents a very hard blow for the conservation of this species, which is also at risk of disappearing because it suffers from its wild environment.
Almost a million hectares were burned in the Province of Corrientes, with all the loss and suffering what this implies. And it hurts even more when the flames reach national parks, provincial parks and reserves, and private nature reserves. That is, the areas that are theoretically protected.
Spotlights are lit simultaneously, in different places and with different origins without the ability to extinguish them. There were always natural fires, but in another scenario, in which the rains were regular and the wetlands had abundant water. The extreme descent of the Paraná River, the high temperatures, the low ambient relative humidity, the production model, together with global climate change changed the rules of the game. A drought like this has never been seen in the province of Corrientes, extremely long in time and transformed into a potential latent threat. Adding the fire, the danger was activated. Natural fires no longer occur with normal frequency, intensity and scale. The context is different, abnormal, and with the addition of intentional foci with the supposed purpose of “managing” the fields. When pristine environments are transformed by human action, they become forced ecosystems subjected to significant environmental distress. A basic principle of ecology whose impact was not previously measured in the affected area through a large scale commensurate assessment, despite prior professional warnings. And behold, the catastrophic consequences.
* Irene Wais, biologist (UBA), ecologist (Oregon State University, USA) and International Postgraduate in Environmental Impact Assessment (UNAM, Mexico).