Brazil’s National Institute of Space Research has detected 733 fires in the Pantanal biome so far this month, with the previous record for fires in Pantanal for June being 435 registered in 2005.
The state of Mato Grosso do Sul, which encompasses 60% of the Brazilian Pantanal, is under a danger warning for a heat wave expected to hit with temperatures 5ºC higher than average for the next three to five days, according to Brazil’s National Meteorological Institute ,INMET.
The World Wildlife Foundation Brazil has warned that the entire year of 2024 could become the worst year on record for the Pantanal as the dry season is just beginning, and the number of fires this year already represents an increase of 898% compared to the same period in 2023, according to INPE’s data.
According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (known as the World Wildlife Fund in the US and Canada), the Pantanal boasts the greatest concentration of wildlife in South America – higher than that of its more famous northern neighbor, the Amazon.