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In the first 14 days of October, the Pantanal registered 2,536 fires, according to data from the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe). The number means that the month is already second worst October in fires for the biome since 1998, only behind October 2002, when there were 2,761 outbreaks.
The records for the first two weeks of October 2020 are also higher than those observed during the entire month of last year, when the biome had 2,430 fires (see graph).
Fires in the Pantanal in October
With 2,500 fires in 14 days, Pantanal already has the second worst October in history
Source: Inpe
The October highs come after the biome had the worst monthly fires in history, of any month, in September. Before, in the first 17 days of September, the records for the month had already been broken.
The Pantanal also had the worst July and the second worst August in number of fires since 1998, when INPE measurements began. This year is already the worst in fire points in the biome, which until 2018 was the most conserved in the country, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
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The Pantanal faces a historical drought – the largest in 47 years – contributing to the spread of flames.
“In the region, the rainy months begin in October, November, December. This year the rain is taking longer than usual,” explains Felipe Augusto Dias, executive director of SOS Pantanal. The same phenomenon happened last year, according to him.
“Obviously the fire starts because someone put it in, but it is also very evident that, especially in the places that would be flooded, this year not being there, there is a lot of organic matter. The drought actually contributes to increase the intensity,” he says Days.
“Some things are needed for fire to happen, first, ignite it, then all the viable characteristics for fire, wind, low humidity, extreme heat are aspects of the atmosphere that contribute to its proliferation,” he explains.
“Even the farmer has difficulty sowing precisely because of the lack of rain. These are periods in which soybeans are normally already planted, they usually have the entire area planted, ”he says.
The photo shows a dead anteater after a fire in the Amazon near Mirante do Norte, Rondônia, on August 20. – Photo: Ueslei Marcelino / Reuters
The number of fires in the Amazon also had a historical record this year: the number of fire points registered from January 1 to September 30 was the highest since 2010, according to Inpe data.
From January to Wednesday (14), the biome registered 86,160 fire points, almost the same number that was registered last year.
Clashes with the government: ‘firefighter ox’
Experts comment on the speech of the Minister of Agriculture on “firefighter ox”
Inpe’s data have sparked clashes with the federal government.
In the most recent, the Minister of Agriculture, Tereza Cristina, affirmed in a public hearing in the Senate that the fires that have consumed the Pantanal would be less intense if there were more cattle in the biome. By eating dry and flammable grass, according to her, the ox would end up preventing the fire from advancing.
The experts stated, however, that the speech is incorrect (see video above).
“The reason we are having a fire is: we have a favorable climate, we have combustible material, but essentially, because someone is setting fire where it shouldn’t be,” said Tasso Azevedo, MapBiomas coordinator.
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