Brazil’s regional authorities on Monday declared a state of emergency as the Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetland, faces “out-of-control fires,” according to a decree.
The wave of fires ahead of the peak of the dry season has raised alarms for the Pantanal, which stretches into Bolivia and Paraguay and is home to a rich variety of wildlife, including the highest density of jaguars in the world.
A state of emergency for six months was declared by the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, which is home to much of Brazil’s humid areas.
Experts say the fires are the result of a severe drought and deliberate fires designed to expand farmland into forest that burns out of control.
According to environmental satellite data from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, 627 thousand hectares of the Pantanal have already caught fire since the beginning of the year.
The Pantanal, a region slightly larger than England, experienced its worst fire year in 2020, when 30% of wetlands were affected.
So far this year, there have been 33% more fires than were observed in the same period in 2020.
“Does this mean that the Pantanal will burn more than in 2020? Not necessarily, but it will depend directly on the authorities who will have to mobilize maximum resources to avoid a tragedy like the one we saw in 2020”, said Gustavo Figueiroa, director of SOS Pantanal. NGO, said in a video on Instagram.
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