2023-11-14 06:43:21
Brazil
“Out of control” fires endanger the Pantanal
The largest wetland on the planet, a sanctuary for biodiversity, is struggling. Fires have been ravaging it for weeks.
PublishedNovember 14, 2023, 07:43
Firefighters try to fight the flames in Brazil.
Gigantic clouds of smoke overhang charred vegetation, where wildlife is in distress: “out of control” fires are raging in the Brazilian Pantanalplus large wetland on the planet and biodiversity sanctuary. The region, famous for its jaguars, has been plagued by fires for several weeks. Satellites from the Brazilian Institute for Space Research (Inpe) detected 2,256 fires in the region from November 1 to 12, or 11 times more than in the entire month of November 2022.
Along the Transpantaneira, a dirt road that crosses the Pantanal, an area supposed to be completely flooded is reduced to a small pond. A few caimans swim there as best they can. Out of the water, the decomposing carcass of another is surrounded by dozens of flies.
Concentration de jaguars
The team made this discovery in the Parc de la Rencontre des Eaux, one of the most affected areas. In this park in the state of Mato Grosso (central-west) is the largest concentration of jaguars in the world. According to data collected by the NGO Institut Center de Vie (ICV), 32% of the surface of the park has been affected by flames for more than a month.
“Out of control” situation
The other front of the fires is in the Pantanal National Park in the state of Mato Grosso, where 24% of the area has burned. “The situation is completely out of control, and these two fronts are expected to meet soon. With the heat wave and the violent winds, the situation will certainly get worse,” warns biologist Gustavo Figueiroa, 31, director of the NGO SOS Pantanal.
“The impact is so strong that it is difficult to measure. The Pantanal is a region accustomed to fires. Normally, it is capable of regenerating naturally, but here, we had never seen a series of fires with such frequency,” he says.
“Effect the master”
According to specialists, these fires are caused above all by human action, in particular the use of the burning technique for agricultural expansion. But the situation at the end of the year was made worse by an exceptional drought.
“We saw a lot of dead animals, insects, amphibians, small mammals, which cannot escape,” lists Gustavo Figueiroa. “They are part of a food chain and the death of any animal causes a domino effect, until it reaches the jaguar, which is at the top of the chain,” he emphasizes.
More than 170,000 km2
The logistical challenges are enormous, with most sites affected by the flames only accessible by boat. In the middle of a clearing, monkeys rush towards the bananas and eggs left for them by volunteers. “With the fires, the natural supply of food is no longer available for the animals that have managed to escape the flames,” explains Jennifer Larreia, 33, president of the É o Bicho association. During the historic fires which devastated the region in 2020, his NGO distributed 300 tonnes of fruit in five months.
The Pantanal extends over an area of more than 170,000 km2, south of the Amazon, on the territories of Brazil, but also Bolivia and Paraguay. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), it is home to 656 species of birds, 159 of mammals, 325 of fish, 98 of reptiles, 53 of amphibians and more than 3,500 species of plants.
(AFP)Show comments
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