Brazil’s Pantanal wetlands are seeing record fires even before the dry season

This photo released by the Mato Grosso do Sul Fire Department shows firefighters battling to control a forest fire in the Pantanal – Copyright MATO GROSSO FIREFIGHTERS DEPARTMENT/AFP Handout

Brazil’s Pantanal, one of the world’s largest tropical wetlands, saw record fires in June even before the arrival of the dry season, satellite data showed Friday.

Brazil’s Institute for Space Research (INPE) has released data showing that there have been around 1,700 fires since the start of the month in a region teeming with one of the largest concentrations of wildlife in South America.

This is more than four times the previous record for fires in June, almost two decades ago.

“This resurgence of fires in the Pantanal, even before the dry season (which usually starts in the second half of the year) is extremely worrying,” Claudio Angelo, member of the Climate Observatory collective, told AFP.

The worst year on record for the Pantanal, a region slightly larger than England, was 2020, when 30 percent of wetlands were affected by flames.

This year is looking even worse so far.

“All indications are that we are facing another extreme climate event, which will make us fear for the future of the biome in the coming months, when the drought reaches its peak,” says Angelo.

The Pantanal, which extends to Bolivia and Paraguay, is home to millions of caimans, parrots, giant otters and the world’s highest density of jaguars.

Environment Minister Marina Silva has raised the alarm in recent weeks about the threat of “severe” drought in several parts of the country, including the Pantanal and the Amazon rainforest.

Brazil has been hit by a series of extreme weather events, the most recent of which was once-in-a-century flooding in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, which killed more than 170 people.