Fires in the Pantanal intensify – 11/11/2023 – Environment

In a meeting this Saturday (11), the MMA (Ministry of the Environment) promised support to the government of Mato Grosso to face fires in the Pantanal, which intensified in November and are once again threatening the Encontro das Águas State Park, a refuge for jaguars. devastated by fire in 2020.

The MMA will send 43 new brigade members and two helicopters to the state, which already had 47 brigade members and an aircraft from Ibama (Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources). The state also asked for help from the Army to improve the logistical structure in the affected region.

Until this Friday (10), Inpe (National Institute for Space Research) recorded 1,550 fires in the biome in November alone, a number almost eight times higher than that recorded in the same month of 2022.

In October, the situation was already alarming, with 1,157 outbreaks registered. Year-to-date, with 3,843 fires, the number of fires in the region is well above 2022, but below the three-year period from 2019 to 2021, when between 10,025, 22,116 and 8,258 fires were recorded, respectively.

“We have around 60 soldiers spread across the region, but we are concerned about the logistics of maintaining these and the new brigade members who will be sent to the location”, stated, during this Saturday’s meeting, the general commander of the Fire Department of the state, Colonel Alessandro Borges.

“We need support from the federal government, via the Army, to set up a large camp. It is an important point so that we can have more security for our fighters and more efficiency in our actions”, he stated.

“The Pantanal has always been a concern,” said the minister of the department, Marina Silva, according to a note sent by the state government. “When the fire starts, we have to work together, and we are fully available for this partnership with the State, including the contribution of resources.”

According to a projection by the ICV (Instituto Centro de Vida), the flames have already consumed an area equivalent to 22% of the Encontro das Águas National Park, which is still recovering from the fires that affected around 90% of its area in 2020.

In the Pantanal National Park, 16% of the area would have been reached by Wednesday (8), the last update made by the institute, which works with data from Inpe and other satellites. In the Estância Dorochê reserve, 68% of the area would have already been affected.

The Instituto Homem Pantaneiro monitoring system detected a huge cloud of smoke originating from the fires in Corumbá (MS). The cloud was captured by a camera installed almost a thousand meters above sea level in Serra do Amolar.

“We are receiving messages from nature, they are frightening messages, which should attract our attention”, said the president of the institute, Ângelo Rabelo. For him, the climate crisis demands a new approach to preventing and fighting fires.

“We will have to review all planning actions regardless of geographic limits [de cada área afetada]. Isolated actions do not contribute to ensuring prevention”, she added.

In 2020, according to a study led by Inpe scientists, around 30% of the Pantanal biome was affected by fires. Almost half of the region’s jaguar population was directly affected, according to another study carried out by Brazilian scientists.

On Thursday (9), the government of Mato Grosso extended the prohibitive period for fires in the state until November 30, given the weather conditions favorable to fires.