Brazil’s Worst Wildfire Season Ever

Sophia Alicea 

Staff Writer

Fires raging in Brazil in 2024 destroyed an area larger than that of Italy, with more than 44 million acres burned, according to the Rainforest Foundation. Brazil had a season of wildfires that will go down as one of the worst ever recorded, with a jarring 62,000 individual fires.

The Amazon, frequently called the “lungs of the planet,” and the Pantanal, the largest tropical wetland on Earth, predominantly reside in Brazil—making it one of the most important countries in both South America and the world for biological diversity, according to BBC. Despite the ecological importance, the Amazon and the Pantanal have experienced unprecedented destruction. Experts are sounding alarm bells about a crisis that may have long-lasting environmental effects. This makes a pressing case for increased climate efforts and fire disaster mitigation strategies.

According to NASA satellite monitoring data, the country experienced a staggering 79 percent rise in the area burned compared to the previous year, as noted by France24. Brazil seems doubly worse, with 58 percent of destruction caused by fires in the Amazon rainforest itself. September 2024 marked a grim milestone, recording the highest number of fires in nearly twenty years, according to another Rainforest Foundation article. 

The rapid spread of these fires can be attributed mainly to the extreme drought conditions exacerbated by El Niño and the ongoing issue of deforestation, which has led to widespread land clearing. As reported by DW, this drought is impacting nearly 60 percent of the nation and rendering forests and wetlands extremely susceptible to fire, resulting in what they have deemed a “fire pandemic.”

Moreover, the essential flood pulse, a seasonal interchange of water to nourish these fragile ecosystems of the Amazon and Pantanal, has completely collapsed. These environments have lost their natural rhythm, and thus, the entire system is becoming more fire-prone, almost putting Brazil’s rich biodiversity at stake. Now, more than ever, the need for intervention has become evident as nature’s water pulse is giving out, and the planet’s lungs are dying. 

Brazil’s Pantanal is often overshadowed by its more famous Amazonian counterpart but equally valuable as a key refuge for much of South America’s most iconic wildlife, including jaguars, tapirs, and caimans. The destruction wrought in 2024 saw fire ripping through many key habitats, severely threatening many of this wetland ecosystem’s diverse and dependent species. 

Meanwhile, the Amazon endured extensive damage due to its essential role in sequestering carbon dioxide and generating oxygen. According to the Copernicus Programme, Brazil emitted a record 180 megatons of carbon during the fires, the highest cumulative total of carbon emissions in 22 years from just the Amazon and the Pantanal.

As a second BBC article states, local communities, particularly Indigenous groups that rely on these ecosystems for their livelihoods, have also borne the brunt of the wildfires. The smoke pollution from these fires has adversely impacted air quality across extensive areas, leading to increased respiratory ailments and other health complications. Environmental experts caution that the ramifications of these wildfires extend beyond immediate ecosystem disruption, posing substantial threats to long-term ecological stability and complicating recovery efforts.

It indicates the increasing tendency of human activity and climatic effects to produce ever-greater environmental tragedies. Clear-cutting, generally for agriculture, is among the most significant contributors to these disasters. Land clearing is frequently undertaken using ‘slash-and-burn’ methods, which are notorious for quickly getting out of control, especially during very dry seasons, reports DW.

Nor can the effect of climate change on the conditions promoting these wildfires be ignored. The increasing temperatures, prolonged drought stretches, and changes in the precipitation pattern have made ecosystems more susceptible to fire. As Mongabay, an American conservation news site, reports, scientists are warning that if current rates of deforestation and climate change continue, much of the Amazon will soon cease to be rainforest and will instead resemble a savannah-like ecosystem, which will significantly undermine its ability to conform to global climate systems.

Image courtesy of Getty Images.