The Guardian: Devastation as world's biggest wetland burns: 'those that cannot run don't stand a chance'
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jul/09/devastation-as-worlds-biggest-wetland-burns-those-that-cannot-run-dont-stand-a-chance-brazil-pantanalDevastation as worlds biggest wetland burns: those that cannot run dont stand a chance
Tue 9 Jul 2024 03.00 EDT
Last modified on Wed 10 Jul 2024 07.25 EDT
Blackened trees, dead animals and scorched earth early wildfires have already devastated Brazils Pantanal and local people worry they may lose the battle to save them
Perched atop blackened trees, howler monkeys survey the ashes around them. A flock of rheas treads, disoriented, in search of water. The skeletons of alligators lie lifeless and charred.
The Pantanal, the worlds largest wetland and one of the most biodiverse places on Earth, is on fire. Huge stretches of land resemble the aftermath of a battle, with thick green shrubbery now a carpet of white ash, and chunks of debris falling from the sky.
More than
760,000 hectares (1.8m acres) have already burned across the Brazilian Pantanal in 2024, as fires
surge to the highest levels since 2020, the worst year on record. From January to July, blazes increased by 1,500% compared with the same period last year,
according to the countrys Institute for Space Research.