11 August 2024 – By the Climate Centre

Climate change made the hot, dry, windy conditions that supercharged catastrophic Pantanal wildfires in June 40 per cent more intense and up to five times more likely, a new WWA rapid analysis released Thursday has concluded.

The Pantanal – the world’s largest tropical wetland – usually floods from November to April during the rainy season, then drains from May to October; it sits mostly in the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul and parts of eastern Bolivia (photo) and Paraguay.

Before climate change, similar June fire-weather conditions were extremely rare but are now much more common, expected every 35 years, the study says, driven by an increase in temperatures and a decrease in rainfall and relative humidity.

If global warming reaches 2°C, similar conditions will be nearly 20 per cent more intense and occur about twice as often in June, a WWA press release said.

Reporting the study, Brazilian media said Friday that the fires had consumed at least 1.2 million hectares and reached regions never before affected by seasonal fires.

‘Massive wildfires are becoming a new normal
in the Pantanal’

Fires started burning in late May, unusually early in the year, following an extremely dry rainy season: an estimated 440,000 hectares burned, breaking the previous June record of 257,000 hectares and far above the June average of 8,300 hectares; the fire season would normally peak in August or September.

Brazilian researcher Filippe Lemos Maia Santos said last week: “This year’s Pantanal wildfires have the potential to become the worst ever.

“Even hotter conditions are expected over this month and the months ahead, and there is a considerable threat that wildfires could burn more than 3 million hectares.

“Unfortunately, massive wildfires are becoming a new normal in the Pantanal. The area of wetland submerged by floodwaters is decreasing as temperatures increase, making vegetation much drier and more flammable.”

The Pantanal is home to precious endangered species such as jaguars, giant river otters, maned wolves, howler monkeys, marsh deer and many others.

Scientists agree that climate change is increasing the risk of wildfires globally as persistent heat dries out soils and vegetation, creating tinderbox conditions.

The Pantanal study was conducted by WWA researchers from Brazil, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, the UK and the US.

A wildfire burns in the San Matias protected area of Bolivia’s Santa Cruz department, part of the Pantanal, threatening human communities and many rare species. (Photo: San Matias Integrated Management Natural Area via @contiocap)

Source : https://www.climatecentre.org/14375/climate-change-driving-devastating-wildfire-season-in-south-americas-pantanal-tropical-wetland-the-worlds-largest-study/

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