Fires in the Amazon and Pantanal in South America

The Jaguar Amanaci’s legs were open, bloody wounds. She suffered third degree burns and could barely walk when veterinarians at the NEX Institute, which rescues injured animals, cared for her. But she will not be released again. The injuries are too serious.

– I get angry when I see how animals suffer. Imagine how you felt, it’s like walking barefoot on hot coals, NEX founder Christina Gianni told Reuters.

The center of the Brazilian state of Goias has recently received dozens of jaguars, and many other animals, which were damaged by fires in the world’s largest wetland area, the Pantanal. They are treated with stem cells, ozone therapy and laser. With bandages around the legs, they recover in the cages in the center. Or die. The images are heartbreaking, but these are animals that were lucky. They get help.

There are 4,700 in the Pantanal animal and plant species. Those who fled the fire risk dying in search of food and water. The full extent of the ecological disaster is still unknown. Many of the fires are out of control.

Christina Gianni says she has never seen so much death and suffering in animals as now. He accuses the Brazilian government of not doing enough to fight the fires.

In July, the situation in the Pantanal turned historically bad. According to an analysis by the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, 23 percent of the area, which is significantly larger than England, has been devastated by fire. By the end of September, twice as much land had been burned there as in California, reports nature.com.

– It’s apocalyptic. It is a tragedy of colossal proportions, Luciana Leite, a biologist at the Federal University of Bahia, tells the site.

The fires are related to the devastation of the forests that have long damaged the biodiversity of the Pantanal. Farmers light fires in trees to produce arable and grazing land. Typically, much of the wetland floods during the rainy season between October and May, giving the area its species richness, and then the water creates natural firebreaks. But this year has been dry and unusually hot.

The eminent climate scientist Carlos Nobre says that global warming is behind it.

“We can expect more droughts in the future,” he told The Guardian.

It remains to be seen how the millions of people who get their water from the Pantanal will be affected.

Burns in large parts from South America right now. The situation in the Amazon has been known for a long time and the eyes of the outside world have been directed mainly there, with good reason. A recent study by the Stockholm Resilience Center shows that 40 percent of the rainforest can soon be classified as savanna.

At the same time, half of Argentina’s 23 provinces are experiencing the worst fires in decades, The Guardian reports. The country’s rescue service writes in a report that 95 percent of them have been caused by human impact.

In the Paraná delta, a World Heritage Site, northwest of Buenos Aires, fire leaps between islands where trees have been cut down to make way for livestock.

Large areas are burning in the heavily devastated Gran Chaco, a sparsely populated plain larger than France.

According to Greenpeace, more than 38,000 active fires have been recorded in the Cerrado, the savanna that covers 20 percent of Brazil.

Bolivia declared a state of emergency on September 16 due to devastating fires aggravated by high winds and temperatures of up to 45 degrees.

Neighboring Paraguay declared a national emergency on October 1 after more than 12,000 fires broke out. In the part of the country of the Gran Chaco, the situation has been so serious that the newspapers recently alerted with headlines such as “Paraguay is burning” and “Help us someone.”

– We were completely surprised. There were dead animals everywhere, all the ranches were burned, says Omar Cabanellas, mayor of the city of General Bruguez.

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Primatologen Martin Kowalewski has seen important habitats in rainforests disappear at an alarmingly rapid rate. Forests provide space for meat animals, soy farms, and housing. Trees are cut down to make furniture. Open mines. Dams are being built. Oil is extracted. Extensive fires are just one of a series of threats.

“In any case, it is the powerful corporate lobbyists who benefit a small group of people at the expense of the rest of society,” he told The Guardian.

Luis Recalde is an environmental consultant in Paraguay and offers a similar picture. He says the state is “extremely bad” at ensuring environmental laws are upheld.

This affects animals, humans, and plants. The recently released report of the UN-affiliated Convention on Biological Diversity makes grim reading. Of the 20 targets set, not a single one is achieved. The result is another example of what many researchers are warning, that we are heading toward a sixth mass extinction.

More than a million species it can be eradicated unless strong measures are taken and time is up. To keep global warming at 1.5 degrees, the so-called carbon budget should not be exceeded. But with today’s broadcasts, it will happen in just over 7 years.

Rainforests play an important role here. The Amazon absorbs two billion tons of greenhouse gases every year. That’s eight times the emissions of Sweden. But fires return a large part to the atmosphere, like hundreds of coal-fired power plants, and the man who has the best chance of putting out the fire has denied that it is burning.

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The political battle for the Amazon It has been overshadowed in part by the corona pandemic, but is now rising again. Brazil’s space research institute Inpe claims that fires in the area increased 13 percent between January and September compared to the same period in the 2019 disaster year. One reason is the devastation of forests, which also increased .

Brazil’s controversial president, Jair Bolsonaro, is again accused of ignoring seriousness. But “Tropics of the Tropics” goes out of its way to blame others for the situation and violently attacks its critics. He has repeatedly insulted and threatened environmental groups. In September, he called them “a cancer” that “failed to kill” and has baselessly accused them of starting fires in an attempt to tarnish the government. In August, he denied that it even burned in the Amazon.

– The rainforest does not start to burn. So the story that the Amazon is burning is a lie and we have to fight it with real numbers, Bolsonaro said without referring to numbers.

But the upcoming American elections it can reverse the trend. In a debate against Trump, Joe Biden threatened Brazil with “significant economic consequences” if the country did not stop the devastation of the forests.

Bolsonaro went straight to the counterattack. He called it a “cowardly threat” to the country’s independence and a “clear sign of contempt.” His friend Trump has handled the situation differently. When the pressure on Bolsonaro was strongest last year, the American gave him his full support.

Jaguaren Amanaci – which means “goddess of rain” – will not fully recover. Her paws and claws are too damaged for NEX staff to let her go outside again. He will spend the rest of his life inside a fence.

In the past, there were jaguars from the southwestern United States to central Argentina. But humans have devastated and burned more than half of its habitat, according to WWF. The animal is also hunted for its beautiful coat and teeth, which are used in traditional medicine.

No one knows how many wild jaguars there are, but the number is decreasing, creating a domino effect. As the main consumer in the food chain, it keeps other species in check and creates balance in nature.

Just over half of the 170,000 jaguars believed to be alive in the Amazon, some 2,000 in the Pantanal. The animal represents strength and power, a symbol of the mysterious beauty of the rainforest.

– If we can have a healthy jaguar strain in the Amazon, we will be closer to protecting the rainforest as a whole, says Jamie Gordon, WWF Brazil director.