(Corumbá) “I breathe smoke every day,” laments Érica Cristina, resident of the Brazilian Pantanal, a biodiversity sanctuary ravaged by flames.
The situation is “chaotic” in the largest wetland on the planet, says the 44-year-old woman, owner of a bar in the town of Corumba, where the sky has taken on a bright red hue due to the glow of the fires that devastate vegetation.
Experts and local authorities assure that these fires are linked to global warming which has caused extreme drought in recent months in this region recognized as a natural World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
“This year the fire and drought came earlier. Usually, gusts of wind, heat and fires only start in August,” explains Bruno Bellan, a 25-year-old breeder.
His farm is in the rural area of Corumba, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul (central-west), which declared a state of emergency on Monday due to the number and importance of the fires.
This farm where he raises 900 head of cattle is two kilometers from a major outbreak in an area that is difficult to access for firefighters.
“We are afraid that the fire will cause damage to our land. The animals are afraid too, they risk getting lost in the middle of the flames, we are going to bring them closer to the farm,” said the breeder.
The Brazilian Minister of the Environment, Marina Silva, warned Monday that the Pantanal was experiencing “one of the worst situations ever seen” in this ecosystem which in principle regenerates each year thanks to the flooding of the plain during the season. rains.
“We didn’t have the usual flooding during the transition between El Niño and La Niña,” two climatic phenomena with a strong impact on precipitation, she explained.
According to experts, the fires are largely caused by human action, in particular the use of the burning technique for agricultural expansion.
Controlled burns are authorized in certain cases, making it possible to clear the land of vegetation that could potentially catch fire. But they have been formally banned until the end of the year due to the current situation.
Érica Cristina, originally from Rio de Janeiro, has been living in the region for around fifteen years. According to her, the situation in the Pantanal “is only getting worse.”
“Many people have lost their homes” due to fires which have spread uncontrolled since 2020. Not to mention “health problems, with respiratory diseases which overload health centers”.
But she refuses to throw in the towel. “If we close [the bar], what are we going to live on? “, she asks, demanding “more empathy” from local authorities.
Corumba native Naldinei Ivan Ojeda, 53, plans to leave the area due to the respiratory problems he suffers from, as does his fifteen-year-old son.
This retired soldier is not angry with those responsible for the fires: “there are no accidental fires in the Pantanal. Every year, it’s the same thing “.