A tractor cuts a firebreak through the vegetation of the Pantanal, the world's biggest tropical wetlands, as firefighters race to contain the blazes that have been devastating one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth.
A handout picture released by the Mato Grosso State Fire Department on Tuesday showing a tapir fleeing a forest fire in the Paranatinga region, Mato Grosso state, Brazil, on Saturday. The Brazilian Pantanal suffered a record 1,684 fires in July, triple the number from July 2019, according to satellite imagery. Photo: AFP
The Brazilian Pantanal suffered a record 1,684 fires in July, triple the number from July 2019, according to satellite images.
It was the worst month on record for fires in the region, which sits on the southern edge of the Amazon rainforest and stretches from Brazil into Paraguay and Bolivia.
Firefighters have been working around the clock to contain the blazes, with the help of residents of the city of Pocone and the surrounding area.
"We've been fighting this one for about 10 days. We've already lost 50,000 hectares," firefighter Adrison Parques de Aguilar told AFP.
Eighty percent of the Pantanal is typically covered in water in the rainy season. But the region has had a drought in 2020, leaving large swathes of vegetation at risk of going up in flames.
The fires are sometimes set by ranchers clearing land to graze cattle.
Newspaper headline: Brazil races to contain wetland blazes