Fire season began earlier this year and found that the biome was still recovering
OR Pantanal he might be facing most destructive fire season. In the first two weeks of June the number of fires is almost 700% higher than in the same period in 2020, the year of the worst crisis so far.
Fires in the Pantanal broke a record for the period in early June
(Photo: Gustavo Figueroa-SOS Pantanal)
OR the fire came in early 2024 and captured some combat teams in the personnel recruitment phase. In the official calendar, the temporary brigades hired by the Ministry of the Environment begin to take the field in June and face the most critical phase from August to October.
“The dry season has just started and we are already seeing an increasing number of outbreaks. The trend is to get worse from now on. The scenario right now is very worrying and could be worse than that of 2020”, Gustavo Figueroa , director of SOS Pantanal, tells DW , a civil society organization working for the conservation of the biome.
An order published in late April by the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) authorized the specialized center Prevfogo to hire federal brigades to prevent and fight forest fires.
When questioned by DW, the organization said in a statement that teams are working in the Pantanal, but did not reveal the exact number of professionals. According to the agency, nearly 100 firefighters have been hired to fight fires in the biome so far, and more teams are expected this year.
When protecting a corridor
Figueroa just returned from days spent fighting the flames. She accompanied the six members of the permanent brigade created by the Instituto Homem Pantaneiro (IHP). The group currently operates in a biodiversity corridor that is strategic for the future of the biome. The size of 300,000 football fields, this corridor is located in an area that covers the border between Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso and the border with Bolivia, near the Serra do Amolar.
The fire has already reached the borders of this place, considered a refuge for wildlife. More than a hundred species of animals live here: alligators, jaguars, ocelots, tapirs, agoutis and giant armadillos are just some of these. Along the way, Figueroa photographed some charred animals.
“The combat routine is complicated. We leave at dawn, a tractor moves equipment to the fire line, it’s a two-hour journey. It’s very exhausting,” says Figueroa, SOS Pantanal’s management and conservation specialist.
From Corumbá, Mato Grosso do Sul, where the IHP is based, it takes a six-hour boat ride across the Paraguay River to reach the region. OR The municipality concentrated the highest number of fires in the country in the first two weeks of Junewith 32% of the total.
After Catastrophic scenario of 2020, the IHP created the permanent brigade. That year the fires consumed 30% of the Brazilian portion of the Pantanal and it was clear to the members of the organization that it was not enough to know how to fight the fire: it was necessary to know the territory better, to know where to find water among the flames and which paths they could be used by animals on escape routes.
“The brigade works with communities to provide support, helps with maintenance near rural schools to keep the area safe, promotes environmental and educational actions. But at the moment everything is at a standstill, the focus is on fighting the fire,” explains Rodolfo César de Sousa, who works in IHP communication.
Pantanal weakened
A The first fire season in 2024 finds a Pantanal still recovering. In 2020, large fires in biomes across the country consumed 43% of places never burned before and caused mass mortality of wildlife. 39 thousand square kilometers were affected by the flames. A study published in Scientific Reports, by the Nature group, estimates the death of 17 thousand vertebrate animals due to the catastrophe.
Furthermore, the last rainy period ended with little water in the region’s rivers. Monitoring carried out by the Brazilian Geological Survey (SGB) shows that, of the entire predicted rainfall volume, 60% has been confirmed. The map showing drought-hit regions produced by the National Water Agency (ANA) warns of critical areas of the Pantanal.
“This year, the The Paraguay River did not overflow. In other words, it did not flood the floodable fields that are normally covered with water in the Pantanal. Then all this dry vegetation and a lot of biomass becomes available for fire,”
says Danilo Bandini, researcher at the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul (UFMS).
Dryer, any spark can cause a huge fire. In the Pantanal, 95% of them are caused by humans, accidentally or intentionally. And a study recently published in the scientific journal Global Change Biology showed that life may have serious difficulty returning to the devastated site. Of the eight mammal species studied in the Serra do Amolar, six showed changes in habitat use or occupancy.
“Ocelots, peccaries, giant armadillos, agoutis, wild deer and tapirs saw a decline in occupancy after the fires. Habitat use remained stable only for the puma. The giant armadillo, a rare and threatened species in Brazil has experienced the most pronounced decline in employment”, comments Grasiela Porfírio, technical-scientific coordinator of the projects of the Instituto Homem Pantaneiro and one of the authors of the article.
The threatened biome has a peculiarity: over 90% is located within private properties. A small slice of the Pantanal, 4.68%, is protected within conservation units. This is why the creation of Private Nature Reserves (RPPNs), those created voluntarily by rural landowners, is important.
Permanent surveillance
For Gustavo Figueroa, of SOS Pantanal, the air support is important transporting brigade members to the most remote areas is essential.
“It would simplify the fight and save time and energy for the brigade members. If the fight does not start quickly, it is almost impossible to control it once the fire reaches large proportions,” he comments.
One of the recommendations provided in an article published by Danilo Bandini after the traumatic experience of 2020 included the formation of more brigades to operate throughout the year, and not just during the drought period.
“That way, they could do a better prevention job to reduce these large fires. Integrated fire management, including prescribed burning, is one of the most important prevention tools, but there are others, such as environmental education”, explains the UFMS researcher.
According to Bandini, the time series of data collected in the Pantanal is limited, which makes it difficult to analyze the influence of climate change on the biome. On the other hand, researchers observe that even phenomena that have a natural cycle, such as drought, are more intense and have a longer drought.
At the same time, 30 other civil society organizations have proposed that the federal and state governments seek assistance outside the country. The alternative suggested in a letter delivered to the authorities suggests the European Union Emergency Response Coordination Center as a possible partner.
“The international community has been following what happened to the Pantanal in 2020. While the Pantanal is still recovering from the devastation of that year, we are once again seeing alarming numbers of fires at the start of the dry season, which is extremely worrying. We are willing to collaborate with Brazilian organizations in their request to the European Union to prevent a greater tragedy from occurring,” says Steve Trent, president and founder of the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF).
Source: Terra
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