With extreme drought and heat in Brazil, the number of forest fires in the Pantanal, one of the world’s largest inland wetlands, has also increased dramatically. Just over 4,000 fires were recorded in November alone, according to the Brazilian Space Institute INPE. The number of fires is now nine times higher than the November average for the last 25 years.
Portal/Amanda Perobelli
The wetland, which stretches from Brazil to neighboring countries Bolivia and Paraguay, consists of an extensive system of rivers and lakes and is a unique natural and tourist paradise. It is unusual for the region to still have so many fires in November, as that month’s rains typically flood the area.
Delayed rainy season
But the rainy season this year is delayed due to the strong drought in the biome, according to the Ministry of the Environment. Furthermore, drought is worsened by the climate phenomenon “El Niño”, which occurs every few years, and by climate change. Other areas of Brazil, such as the Amazon, are currently facing the worst drought in more than a century.
“Floods, droughts and fires are part of the natural dynamics of the Pantanal,” said Roberto Maldonado, from the environmental organization WWF. “But in recent years we have experienced increasingly extreme droughts and gigantic fires that are spiraling completely out of control and threaten to destroy the sensitive ecosystem.”