dezembro, 04 2024

Brazilian biomes saw record wildfires in 2024. In the first 11 months of the year, the number of fires increased by 43.7% in the Amazon, 64.2% in the Cerrado and 139% in the Pantanal, compared to the same period in 2023. The data comes from the Queimadas Program of the National Institute for Space Research (INPE).

Throughout 2024, the three biomes faced extreme droughts, which favoured the spread of fires. In most of Brazil, wildfires tend to intensify between August and October, peaking in September, but in July 2024 there were already signs that the country would face one of the worst droughts in history and the fires got out of control.

Between January 1 and November 30, 2024, 134,979 fire outbreaks were recorded in the Amazon. The number represents an increase of 43.7% compared to the same period in 2023 (93,938 outbreaks) and is the highest recorded since 2007 (more than 181,000 outbreaks). The figure is 43.5% higher than the average number of outbreaks in this period in the previous five years (2019-2023), which is 94,057 outbreaks.

Considering only the month of November, 14,158 fire outbreaks were recorded in the Amazon, which represents an increase of 1.5% compared to the 13,940 outbreaks in November 2023. The figure, however, is 46.2% higher than the average for the period in the previous five years (2019-2023), which is 9,679 outbreaks.

Figures from the Environmental Satellite Applications Laboratory (Lasa) at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, released by the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MMA), indicate that the portions of native forest in the Amazon affected by fire in 2024 totaled 13 million hectares from January 1 to October 20. This is an area comparable to that of England.

According to Mariana Napolitano, Director of Strategy at WWF-Brazil, the extreme drought that the biome has been facing since 2023 is a combination of an intense El Niño with climate change and accumulated deforestation in the region.

“Deforestation contributes to the worsening of the climate crisis that already directly affects us with irregular rainfall patterns, historic droughts, extreme heat waves and floods. This combination of climate change caused by global warming with environmental degradation has created a scenario favourable to the criminal use of fire to convert the forest,” stated Mariana.

According to her, with more than 18% of its coverage lost, the Amazon loses a significant part of its capacity to produce rain and humidity, especially in the southern and southwestern portions of the biome.

“We are already very close to the threshold that science has calculated for the point at which the Amazon rainforest can no longer sustain itself and becomes a poorer, drier and more degraded ecosystem. This represents a very high risk for our country, for the continent and for the planet as a whole because the Amazon is a climate regulator, with an important role in the rainfall regime in South America, and one of the richest habitats for tropical biodiversity,” she said.

In the Cerrado, in the year to date up to November 30, 79,599 fire outbreaks were recorded: an increase of 64.2% compared to the same period last year (48,474 outbreaks). The number is 37% higher than the average for the same period in the previous five years (2019-2023), which is 58,070. The number recorded in the first 10 months of the year is the highest for the period since 2012, when more than 88,000 outbreaks were detected.

In November, the Cerrado had 2,944 fire outbreaks, a reduction of 9.1% compared to the number recorded in November last year (3,242 outbreaks). The number in 2024 is 9% lower than the average of the previous five years (2019-2023) for this period, which is 2,701 fire outbreaks. According to data from Lasa-UFRJ released by the federal government, between January 1 and October 20, the area burned in the Cerrado was 14.6 million hectares - about twice the area of ​​Ireland.

According to Daniel Silva, a conservation specialist at WWF-Brazil, the destruction of the Cerrado further worsens the climate crisis that produces extreme droughts and intensifies wildfires.

“Brazilian biomes are connected. The conversion and deforestation of the Cerrado generate imbalances for the Amazon and the Pantanal, affecting water availability in other ecosystems, contributing to droughts, increased fires and heat waves. Therefore, there is no point in preserving just one biome; we need to have consistent policies for different areas of the country. And, in Brazil, stopping deforestation is the most important point to avoid even more severe effects of the climate crisis,” said Silva.

In the Pantanal, from the beginning of 2024 until November 30, 14,483 fire outbreaks were detected. A number 139% higher than that recorded in the same period last year (6,067 outbreaks). The number is 53.2% higher than the average for the period in the previous five years (2019-2023), which was 9,449 outbreaks.

The number recorded in 2024 is the second highest in the historical series of the Inpe's Queimadas Program, which began in 1998, second only to 2020, when more than 21,900 fire outbreaks were recorded in the first 11 months of the year. The year 2020, however, was marked by the worst wildfires in the history of the Pantanal, which devastated more than 30% of the biome's total area.

In November, 191 fire outbreaks were recorded in the Pantanal. The number represents a 95.3% drop compared to the number of fires recorded in the same period in 2023 (4,134 fire outbreaks). The number in November 2024 is 85.6% lower than the average for the same period in the previous five years (2019-2023), which is 1,333 fire outbreaks.

According to data from Lasa-UFRJ, released by the MMA, the area burned in the Pantanal between January 1 and October 20, 2024 was 2.5 million hectares, an area larger than Wales.