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All rights reserved InfoAmazonia Social and environmental crises come together in Mato Grosso in a year of record burning in the Pantanal the challenge for residents affected by the smoke is to get medical care Intubated yesterday with respiratory failure breathing by mechanical means (ventilator) needing intravenous medication to sustain blood pressure The former supermarket worker arrived at the Júlio Muller University Hospital in pain and having difficulty breathing. Nine months pregnant she had to have an emergency caesarean to minimize risk to the baby. After giving birth she returned to the quilombola [maroon] community of Mata Cavalo in the Pantanal between Nossa Senhora do Livramento and Poconé The fires that had affected the whole of Mato Grosso similarly gave the residents of Mata Cavalo no respite. All the pasture on the smallholding where Tânia’s family lives had burned and the property’s few animals were left without food. Breathless once again she had to be taken once more to the emergency room. At the health post where the medical record that opens this text was written she was intubated as a matter of urgency.  “Two tests detected Covid-19. I had severe acute respiratory syndrome and 100% of my lung was affected I still have difficulty breathing. I needed physiotherapy and I still feel very weak. It took me six months to give my daughter a bath. I was so weak that when I picked her up for the first time, I almost dropped her” who also suffers neurological after-effects from the virus contracted a year ago had to undergo an emergency caesarean operation the month in which this Mata Cavalo resident was hospitalized in a serious condition Mato Grosso was the state with the third highest number of fires in Brazil. Between the beginning of August and the beginning of September more than 88,000 heat sources were detected by images from the S-NPP/VIIRS satellite monitored by the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) and used for the InfoAmazonia analysis. In the thirty days prior to this sensors in space had detected just over 10,000 outbreaks The large number of fires released a lot of toxic particulate matter into the atmosphere a process that increased the number of hospitalizations for respiratory syndromes by 62% and the cases of Covid-19 admitted to hospitals in the state in September by 46% The InfoAmazonia analysis reveals that Poconé is top of the list of municipalities with the greatest increase in hospitalizations linked to particulate matter for the whole burning period residents of Poconé and neighbouring Cáceres lived with an 82% greater chance of being admitted to hospital with complications from Covid-19 and a 115% greater chance when considering all respiratory syndromes attributable to burning. The air in both places was saturated with particulate matter for the entire thirty days of the month is one of the lives that reveal the tragedy of statistics In addition to being hospitalized with respiratory problems she lost a child at the beginning of her pregnancy in 2020 One day I passed out and ended up in hospital That’s when I found out I was pregnant and worse I had to stay in hospital for seven days unable to breathe properly” Environment secretary who took part in fighting the fires that destroyed the Pantanal According to the environment secretary of Poconé the serious fires that ravaged the Pantanal in 2020 changed the city’s routine “I used to travel all the time to Porto Jofre [a district of Poconé where the smoke was more intense and so was the heat – the Encontro das Águas (Meeting of the Waters) State Park which has the largest population of jaguars of the world lost 82% of its original area – to support the firefighting and even take firefighters to remote regions my body and my baby couldn’t stand it” who is now at the beginning of a new pregnancy and fears that the fires will hit the Poconé region once again in 2021 According to public health researcher Tatiane Moraes from the Fiocruz Climate and Health Observatory and one of InfoAmazonia’s scientific data analysis consultants the situation in Mato Grosso in 2020 reveals a serious picture that the pandemic has helped to bring into sharper focus “These are regions where populations have longstanding unmet demands for health services the quality of environmental surveillance systems the presence of Covid made the situation even more complex” and the rationale may apply to those areas of the Amazon most impacted by the negative synergy between fire and an increase in hospitalizations the causes may differ. “It is not always the same process that explains the burning throughout the entire Amazon region. There are different environmental scenarios – there are agriculture The origins of the fires that affected more than 82% of the Encontro das Águas State Park and the SESC Pantanal Private Natural Heritage Reserve (RPPN) originated predominantly from such private properties. Across Mato Grosso a state that is part of the Legal Amazon region fires also destroyed areas within the Amazon biome Source: coloured composition of Sentinel-2 satellite images particularly in the interior of Amazonian states Nossa Senhora do Livramento and Barão de Melgaço where the rural population is greater than the urban the difficulty in accessing adequate health care is an everyday reality lost her 78-year-old sister-in-law and neighbour to Covid-19 Where Sonia lives is more than forty kilometres from the municipal seat The nearest health post to where she lives with her 72-year-old husband and a mentally handicapped son is a family health clinic in the district of Cangas “We save up and take a taxi when we can. It’s R$50 to go and another R$50 to come back. When a neighbour is willing to share it costs R$30 each. We need to take the boy to Poconé all the time. We survive on a pension of one minimum salary and from the sale of the string rugs I make. There’s no way we can go to town twice in the same month“ She says she picked up Covid in 2020 but looked after herself at home “Last year was very difficult because of health but we stayed here trying to get better with home remedies. We are very afraid of Covid a lot of people have died around here from this disease The problem of getting to the nearest health centres is both chronic and widespread a local health worker. Although quilombolas have all received both doses of the vaccine against the new coronavirus the pandemic is still claiming victims in 2021 two very healthy quilombolas died from Covid but the lack of transport makes everything very complicated” In the municipality of Nossa Senhora do Livramento the ambulance will only take patients from the city to the state capital “Not even doctors want to work in the most distant communities; we are without a doctor now many sick people took refuge in their homes because they had no way of getting help. With this drought and fires arriving sooner I don’t know what the people of the Pantanal will be able to do to fight Covid this year” Often the only means of escape in the fight for survival is if the patient manages to get to the former municipal first aid centre of Cuiabá now the Covid-19 reference hospital for the state. According to nurse Ademilson Pereira da Silva the period between July and August is always the most worrying. Last year the situation became even more tense because it was even difficult to separate those suffering from the new coronavirus infection from other types of respiratory problems which can also lead to death. “We receive patients from other towns in Mato Grosso mainly from the Baixada Cuiabana region and the Pantanal [where Poconé is located] We had a triage room where we had to separate those who had respiratory problems often caused by other viruses from those who had Covid” “The months of fires and no rain are always the most difficult. Primary health posts in the different regions receive the sick. Everything starts there: runny nose and bronchitis. When the person gets weaker and gets infected with Covid-19 “The delay makes the person arrive at the reference hospital very debilitated” The lack of rain continues to concern the Pantanal region in 2021 needed to sink his well deeper to get water for his family and save his banana crop but we don’t know for how long; it’s not supposed to be so dry,” says the farmer who hasn’t got over his memories of 2020 “I’ve never seen the Pantanal burn like that My ten-year-old grandson (Christopher de Souza) was coughing She was in hospital for two weeks with this disease We suffered with the smoke; we saw the animals suffer and couldn’t do anything” Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" Smoke from burnings worsens Covid-19 in the Amazon The smoke from the fires and Covid sweeps from southern Amazonas to Acre Engolindo Fumaça – metodologia do processamento e  análise de dados O projeto Engolindo Fumaça analisa dados de satélite para determinar quais locais na Amazônia brasileira foram os mais afetados pela poluição do ar durante as queimadas de 2020 A investigação começou pela seleção das fontes de dados de sensoriamento remoto disponíveis para as diferentes variáveis […] By visiting this site, you agree to the use of cookies, which are designed to improve your experience and are used for the purpose of analytics and personalization. To find out more, please read our Cookies policy Por um futuro em que as pessoas vivam em harmonia com a natureza Photos and graphics © WWF or used with permission. Text available under a Creative Commons licence You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience compared to 4,699 in the same timeframe last year Fires have already destroyed 10% of Pantanal this year The Pantanal stretches from the state of Mato Grosso do Sul across Mato Grosso and into the neighboring countries of Bolivia and Paraguay the vegetation compacted under the marshy floodwater during the wet season dries out as ponds and lagoons evaporate leaving flammable deposits underground that can continue to smolder long after visible flames die down the Pantanal is also threatened by land grabbing for cattle pastures and soy cultivation A veterinary student and a local guide inspect a dead snake in an area that was burnt in a fire in the Pantanal An aerial view shows horses and cattle standing amongst smoke from fires nearby in the Pantanal A jaguar rubs itself against vegetation as it walks through smoke from a fire nearby in Encontro das Aguas State Park in the Pantanal A jaguar crouches on an area recently scorched by wildfires at the Encontro das Aguas park in the Pantanal wetlands Dorvalino Conceicao Camargo tries to put out a fire on a ranch near where he works in the Pantanal Farm employees stand in front of a burning fire at a ranch in the Pantanal Firefighters from the State of Mato Grosso fill their truck with water as they prepare to extinguish a fire in front of a smoke funnel Smoke from a fire rises into the air as trees burn amongst vegetation in the Pantanal A cow stands amongst an area that was burnt in a fire at a ranch in the Pantanal A jaburu bird with a broken wing is treated by a veterinarian and a veterinary student volunteer at a temporary clinic set up to rescue and treat wildlife in the Pantanal A giant otter eats a fish as it swims in the Cuiaba River A tree that was partially burnt in a fire stands amongst burnt vegetation a bottle filled with water to help put out a fire on a ranch in the Pantanal An aerial view shows smoke rising into the air around the Cuiaba river in the Pantanal An aerial view shows burnt trees and vegetation in the Pantanal A dead caiman is pictured in an area that was burnt in a fire in the Pantanal Fire consumes an area next to the Transpantaneira road in the Pantanal wetlands A volunteer tries to douse a fire on the Transpantaneira road in the Pantanal wetlands An alligator sits in a field of green as a fire consumes an area next to the Transpantaneira road at the Pantanal wetlands near Pocone Men fish in the Cuiaba river amid smoke from fires at the Encontro das Aguas park at the Pantanal wetlands near Pocone A fire has been burning since mid-July in the remote wetlands of west-central Brazil leaving in its wake a vast charred desolation bigger than New York City biologists and local guides arrived in late August to prowl the bumpy dirt road known as the Trans-Pantanal Highway in pickup trucks looking to save what injured animals they could Jaguars were wandering the blackened wasteland the last act of creatures desperate to cool off before being consumed by flames This massive fire is one of thousands of blazes sweeping the Brazilian Pantanal - the world's largest wetland - this year in what climate scientists fear could become a new normal echoing the rise in climate-driven fires from California to Australia The Pantanal is smaller and less-known than its famous cousin But the region's normally abundant waters and strategic location - sandwiched between the rainforest Brazil's vast grasslands and Paraguay's dry forests - make it a magnet for animals The fires are now threatening one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet The Pantanal is home to roughly 1,200 vertebrate animal species including 36 that are threatened with extinction Across this usually lush landscape of 150,000 square kilometers (57,915 square miles) in Brazil rare birds flutter and the world's densest population of jaguars roam ranchers have used flames to cheaply return nutrients to the soil and renew pasture for their beef cattle The biggest fires in the Pantanal this year are quadruple the size of the largest fire in Brazil's Amazon rainforest A record 23,490 square kilometers have burned through Sept according to a Federal University of Rio de Janeiro analysis Reuters witnessed a fire that flashed from forest to pasture near the tourist gateway of Poconé in Brazil's Mato Grosso state The rush of air sucked in by the blaze spun a strong wind into a tornado of smoke The temperature on the ground soared to 46.5 Celsius (115.7 Fahrenheit) a 56-year-old farmhand in a straw hat common among local cowboys Camargo said he had never seen fires this bad The world's largest flood plain normally fills with several feet of water during the rainy season from around November to April each year Camargo recalled navigating the waters as a child in boxy canoes he showed the farm's high-water mark - 70 centimeters (2.3 feet) off the ground - hewn into the post of a cattle corral Even in a dry year it's typically about half that Only a little bit of water pooled in a ditch nearby the Paraguay River that traverses the Pantanal has receded to its lowest point since 1973 a climate researcher at Brazil's Federal University of Espirito Santo Scientists blame the drought on warming in the Atlantic Ocean just above the equator that's drawing moisture away from South America and will send it north NASA scientist Doug Morton said this phenomenon is caused by shifts in ocean temperature known as the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation - the Atlantic Ocean's equivalent of El Niño in the Pacific the oscillation alternates between hot and cold roughly every 30-40 years the warming in the tropical North Atlantic is more likely to occur contributing to South American droughts and fires Changing ocean temperatures are "a likely driver of the dry conditions we've seen so far this year in the Pantanal," according to Morton Morton said the warm spot could also be contributing to more dryness in the southern part of the Amazon where fires likely hit a 10-year high in August; and in Argentina's wetlands where the blazes are the worst since 2009 Morton is concerned global warming could disrupt the Oscillation and leave it permanently in the warm phase scientists fear global temperature increases on their own would make vast burning ever more common Destruction of the Amazon rainforest to the north is exacerbating drought in the Pantanal over the long-term an ecologist at Brazil's National Institute of Amazonian Research That's because jungle trees recycle rain and push the moisture back into the air as water vapor which winds then carry to neighboring regions in so-called flying rivers Amazon deforestation has surged 34.5% in the 12 months through July according to preliminary data from government space research agency Inpe Brazil has also weakened environmental enforcement Bolsonaro's press office directed questions to the Environment Ministry which did not respond to a request for comment Environment Minister Ricardo Salles visited the Pantanal in August saying that federal environmental agencies had sent five aircraft and additional workers to assist the more than 100 state firefighters battling the blazes "The fires are causing great damage to fauna flora and to the Pantanal region," Salles said according to Mato Grosso state firefighting Lieutenant Colonel Jean Oliveira who has been leading all government agencies in the fire response local media on Thursday reported one fatality in the state at a minimum thousands of animals have perished according to biologist Rogério Rossi at the Federal University of Mato Grosso The roving veterinary team is able to save only a tiny fraction of the injured animals Many of these creatures are difficult to catch dead coati," a cousin of North American raccoons In the burned expanse of 1,347 square kilometers (520 square miles) near the town of Poconé She picked up a snake petrified in the fire in what a biologist said was likely an involuntary reaction as it sought any escape from the pain of being burned alive PHOTO EDITING GABRIELLE FONSECA JOHNSON; TEXT EDITING Stephen Eisenhammer & Marla Dickerson; LAYOUT JULIA DALRYMPLE Farm employees stand near a fire as it burns on a ranch watches tv after finishing work for the day A farm worker fills a water container at dawn Camargo attempts to put out a fire with a tree branch A cow stands amongst an area that was burnt in a fire at a ranch a bottle filled with water to help put out a fire on a ranch Carlos Augusto Rodrigues separates cattle with the help of his friend Idalino Menino Pereira a friend on a ranch A giant otter eats a fish amongst smoke from fires nearby in the Cuiaba river inside Encontro das Aguas State Park Smoke rises into the air along the Cuiaba river An aerial view shows horses and cattle amongst smoke from fires nearby An aerial view shows cattle standing amongst trees An aerial view shows a house surrounded by burnt vegetation An aerial view shows burnt trees and vegetation Number of fires in world’s biggest tropical wetlands more than doubled in first half of 2020 compared with last year Photograph: Mauro Pimentel/AFP/Getty Images Photograph: Joao Paulo Guimaraes/AFP/Getty Images Firefighters work to extinguish fire at Pantanal Under the thick blanket of smoke, relentless flames spread with dizzying speed over swaths of Pantanal Matogrossense National Park, its grasslands parched by months of drought. In a charred marshland the carcass of a crocodile-like caiman lays sprawled on its back ash and burnt shrubs stretch for miles across this protected slice of the Brazilian Pantanal Wildfires have been ravaging Pantanal Matogrossense National Park for months invading the vast conservation area from all sides The blazes have wreaked untold environmental havoc on this rich and complex ecosystem killing animals and leaving countless others without habitat “The extent of the damage is devastating,” said Vinicius Silgueiro territorial intelligence coordinator at Instituto Centro de Vida (ICV) a Cuiaba-based sustainability non-profit whose work has been focused on the Pantanal fires “It’s an impact that is impossible to fully understand yet – but we know it has disrupted the equilibrium in a profound way.” Pantanal Matogrossense National Park encompasses some 135,000 hectares across the municipality of Pocone in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso The area has been under federal protection for nearly four decades with entry into the park strictly restricted in a bid to shield its rich ecological diversity sprawling nearly 210,000 square kilometers (81,000 square miles) across Brazil it stretches across the western states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul It is home to the world’s second largest population of jaguars and provides habitat for dozens of species threatened with extinction like the hyacinth macaw (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus) Normally, the Pantanal is drenched by heavy rains between October and April, which flood about 80% of the region, turning it into a maze of marshes and streams. But a prolonged drought has spelled disaster for the region with searing temperatures and high winds making  the parched land highly susceptible to fires “The dry season this year was really extreme,” Silgueiro said “And it created the perfect conditions for the fires The vegetation became really vulnerable to catching fire.” “The situation in the Pantanal has been an unprecedented disaster,” Bernadino said “We still don’t know the extent of the impact on the fauna and flora fires have burned through about 40% of the state’s Pantanal region In Pocone – home to Pantanal Matogrossense National Park – satellites from US space agency NASA recorded more than 1.82 million fire alerts between September 28 and December 20 a huge jump from the same period last year local sources say intense fires have been burning since at least August with flames engulfing huge swaths in the northern southern and western regions of the vast conservation area Even the arrival of rains in recent weeks has provided little relief: as of December 17 the southwest region of the park and its northern fringe were still burning according to an environmental agency source who asked to remain anonymous as he is not permitted to speak to the media “The park was surrounded by fires on all sides,” the source said so it’s been very difficult to control the fires Also read: How the 2020 Western Fire Season Got So Extreme Natural wildfires are not uncommon in the Pantanal during wetter months when lightning storms can easily set ablaze the peat soil which is made up of layers of highly-combustible decomposed organic matter But environmental and enforcement sources say the vast majority of the fires raging this year can be traced back to human activity cattle ranchers often set degraded pastures ablaze in a bid to renew them Some traditional communities also use fire to clear small plots of land for subsistence farming or cultural rituals speculators seeking to expand their agricultural land holdings routinely set nearby plots ablaze in a bid to clear and claim them Some 98% of the fires in the Pantanal this year can be traced back to human activity three of the five major fires that have swept through the area are believed to have started on farms outside the park and burned out of control according to the environmental agency source “Very few of these fires started because of natural causes,” Silgueiro said “The fire that spread and entered into the national park also came from outside And it ended up burning out of control and entering this conservation unit.” Slash-and-burn agricultural blazes are technically only permitted during the rainy season with authorisation from the state secretariat for the environment when fires are more likely to run out of control agricultural burning is prohibited altogether the ban is not always respected and enforcement is haphazard “The vegetation is really dry; the Pantanal didn’t flood this year,” the environmental agency source said “Areas that normally don’t catch fire because they are always flooded Federal and state forces have been battling the fires in the Pantanal for months but getting the flames under control has proven a challenge agents from ICMBio and Ibama – Brazil’s two federal environmental agencies – have been working alongside the military civil defense forces and state fire brigades to battle the flames But their efforts have been marred by soaring temperatures and gusty winds which have made it that much more difficult to combat the flames lack of access to large swaths of the remote park has further complicated efforts to bring the blazes under control “It was really difficult to fight the flames the spread of the fire was very aggressive,” the enforcement agency source said “There was a lot of wind and extremely high temperatures too; it’s only possible to reach some parts of the park with a helicopter.” The unique way in which fires burn in the Pantanal has also posed a challenge While in other regions of Brazil – including the Amazon – blazes engulf vegetation and trees fires in the Pantanal tend to burn just below the surface of the earth These low-intensity fires can burn for longer and are often particularly difficult to extinguish which allowed authorities to allocate even more resources to combatting the flames The federal government also employed its military to combat the fires in the Amazon and the Pantanal in a costly operation dubbed Green Brazil II the federal government moved to  impose a moratorium on the use of fire for agricultural purposes across the Pantanal and the Amazon in July while Mato Grosso state also instated its annual ban earlier this year Also read: Amazon Rainforest Fires Leave São Paulo in the Dark But critics say that the measures taken by federal and state authorities came too late to curb the destruction in the Pantanal Despite signs early this year that signalled an intense fire season ahead Bernadino noted there was a lack of preparation by federal authorities making it more difficult to control the blazes “But there was a late mobilisation of resources … Controlling fires of this magnitude requires massive resources the actions taken did not reach the scale necessary to control the situation.” Environmentalists also say friendly signals by the federal government are encouraging agricultural burning and creating a climate of impunity President Jair Bolsonaro has routinely railed against environmental protections and has made repeated comments undermining attempts by Brazilian courts to roll out harsher punishment for criminal burning the capacity of federal agents to combat forest fires has also been hit hard Brazil’s main environmental enforcement agency has seen its funding slashed dramatically on Bolsonaro’s watch which has curbed the scope of its fire brigade scheme has meant that perpetrators of illegal burning and deforestation often face few consequences “The weakening of environmental agencies ends up giving a green light to this activity,” Silgueiro said for those who are using fire or deforesting they don’t worry that they will be held responsible So it sends a message that nothing will happen to whoever does this.” While the worst of the fires may be over for now a weak start to the rainy season is fueling worries that more drought and destruction may lie ahead for the Pantanal WWF’s Bernadino noted that 2021 is expected to bring “a large number of fires the observed trend towards high temperatures and the persistent human activity.” The impact of this year’s unprecedented fires is not yet clear but environmentalists say the Pantanal will likely be reeling from the damage for decades The fires have been ecologically devastating potentially wiping out rare species of animals and leaving others without habitat They have also devastated traditional and indigenous communities living in the region reducing their crops to ashes and destroying their livelihoods “Some areas will be able to recuperate quickly,” Silgueiro said It may be a very long time before we see the same diversity that these areas once had.” This article was originally published on Mongabay and is republished here under a Creative Commons license General enquiries: science@science.thewire.in Ask most people what the annual United Nations climate talks are and the likely answer will be: “Huh?” Ask those who do know and the answer may be: “Why should I care?” are nearly two weeks long and in their 28th iteration in Dubai Delegates use wonky terms like ‘NDCs’ ‘1.5 degrees’ and ‘loss and damage’ that not exactly conversation starters at parties meaning countries can agree to something and then not follow through And when tens of thousands of people travel to the event a lot of greenhouse gas emissions are produced which is contrary to the entire point of the conference Even many climate watchers sometimes ask that question and there is a growing debate about whether the current process needs major reforms But viewed with a long lens — and with the proviso that progress is often more of a slow trickle than a dramatic event and impact — there are many reasons that the talks can prove worthwhile The push for compliance (in a public forum) is a key part of COP — in the form of the development of ‘Nationally Determined Contributions’ These are plans by individual countries to reduce their use of oil which produce greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change and lay out how they plan to adapt to impacts of extreme weather events The plans are required by all nations that signed on to the 2015 Paris Agreement arguably the most significant Conference of Parties to date setting broad targets that industries and individuals in respective countries can see while also providing a chance for other countries Countries are encouraged and expected to update and “raise ambition” in their plans creating a level of peer pressure for nations to keep promises That’s something that individual entities sometimes have trouble doing The Paris agreement established a defining goal that has guided climate discussions ever since: Cut emissions from the burning of fossil fuels to make sure average global temperatures don’t go beyond 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) since preindustrial times and ideally not over 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) temperatures have increased about 1.2 degrees Celsius (2.2 degrees Fahrenheit) As extreme weather events driven by climate change have increased and intensified climate scientists have pushed to limit warming to 1.5 just about every discussion about climate change has 1.5 in mind that 1.5 guide is at the heart of the Biden administration’s climate goals which include the Inflation Reduction Act in the United States history that is pumping billions of dollars into green energy transition It’s also used as the lens by which many decisions are seen When oil companies announce plans to launch new drilling projects that will lock in oil and gas production for decades policy makers can and do criticize the plans as not keeping within the 1.5 goal That doesn’t necessarily stop oil companies from making decisions that go against the goal Deciding how to talk about something can be an important part of getting things done produced a landmark agreement for rich countries to contribute to a fund to help developing nations adapt to climate change environmental activists had argued that a “loss and damage” fund was necessary because rich nations were largely responsible for climate change while developing countries were being hit the hardest as they didn’t have the resources to withstand floods prolonged drought and other manifestations of a warming world Early discussions of loss and damage at COPs were always on the fringes ended up being the centerpiece of the summit from reducing emissions to paying for a transition to green energies like wind and solar are framed around the idea that rich countries are historically responsible for the current situation and thus have a moral imperative to pay more to confront it with no binding decisions or ways to enforce agreements may seem like a formula for failure in a world accustomed to visible seen over the course of nearly 30 years of summits the outcomes could be called cautiously optimistic successes 10 years ago the level of greenhouse gas emissions had the world on track to warm 4 degrees Celsius (7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2100 which scientists say would create devastating extremes models have the world warming by 2 to 2.5 degrees Celsius That is still significantly beyond the 1.5 target and poses threats to humans; tenths of a degree matter a lot when it comes to extremes While many factors have gone into lowering the curve on emissions – technological advances among others – UN climate negotiations have undoubtedly been a central factor the reality is there is currently no other way for the world to collectively address climate change Consider how difficult it can be for two people to agree on anything The Conference of Parties process gives every nation in the world a seat at the table to discuss how climate change is impacting them and how they believe the world should confront it They also give a forum to people of all walks of life to exchange ideas from young environmentalists and Indigenous activists to bankers and leaders of many industries lots of discussion and disagreements will continue all with the hope of combatting climate change That is worth a conversation starter at parties Peter Prengaman is director of climate news for The Associated Press View the discussion thread. Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker A vast swathe of a vital wetlands is burning in Brazil sweeping across several national parks and obscuring the sun behind dense smoke Preliminary figures from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro indicate that nearly 5,800 square miles (1.5 million hectares) have burned in the Pantanal region since the start of August – an expanse comparable to the area consumed by the historic blazes now afflicting California It’s also well beyond the previous fire season record from 2005 Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research said the number of Pantanal fires in the first 12 days of September was nearly triple the figure for the same period last year who has been working and living near the Encontro Das Aguas reserve since 2008 said he’s never seen the fires as bad as this year “It is an immense area that has been burned and consumed by the fire three or four weeks without rain” ahead troops and volunteers have been scrambling to find and rescue jaguars and other animals before they are overtaken by the flames which have been exacerbated by the worst drought in 47 years strong winds and temperatures exceeding 40 degrees centigrade (104 Fahrenheit) mining and farming operations have been blamed for most of the fires in the Amazon region to the north a spokesman for Mato Grosso state’s firefighters said one of the causes of this year’s Pantanal fires is the practice of burning roots to smoke wild bees from their hives to extract honey The Pantanal holds thousands of plant and animal species rivers overflow their banks flood the land making most of it accessible only by boat and plane wildlife enthusiasts flock to see the normally furtive jaguars lounging on riverbanks About 200 jaguars in the area already have been injured killed or forced from their territories by the fires an international wild cat conservation organisation Firefighters and the Mato Grosso environment ministry have created a centre for rescued animals but we try to have hope to rescue the few animals we can,” said veterinarian Karen Ribeiro who was treating an injured bird on Friday Brazil’s navy used a helicopter to rescue a burned jaguar cub and take it to a veterinary hospital View the discussion thread. It looks like nothing was found at this location Brazil (Reuters) – The world’s largest wetland is ablaze the vegetation compacted under the marshy flood water during the wet season dries out as ponds and lagoons evaporate Firefighters across Brazil are battling raging towers of flames from the Amazon rainforest to the Cerrado savannah but the fires beneath their feet are a particular challenge in the Pantanal The only way to combat an underground fires is to dig a trench around it said state firefighter Lieutenant Isaac Wihby “But how do you do that if you have a line of fire that’s 20 kilometers long The flames threaten the region’s biodiversity capybaras and the world’s most dense population of jaguars whose name derives from the Portuguese word for “swamp,” sprawls over more than 150,000 sq km in Brazil and also extends into Bolivia and Paraguay As fires approached emergency workers in the Pantanal this week they used tractors to cut through desiccated trees and shrubs leaving a gash of brown dirt meant to rob the flames of fuel and stop their spread But strong winds can send the flames over the top “Sometimes it passes under a firebreak and takes the firefighters by surprise,” said Lieutenant Jean Oliveira “Sometimes you control a fire and it’s not really dead park rangers and soldiers have worked 24 hours a day for weeks attempting to extinguish flames that have destroyed thousands of square kilometers of the Pantanal With temperatures soaring above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) one fire this week was unstoppable as strong winds pushed it across multiple firebreaks burning through twisted branches and dry leaves through the day and into the night “We controlled it but then it jumped there jumped there,” said Edmilson Rodrigo da Silva a firefighter for Brazil’s center-west state of Mato Grosso pointing far into the distance to where the fire had gotten past firebreaks The region is a vast flood plain that normally fills with water during the rainy season But the floods were lower than normal this year and a subsequent drought has left the area dangerously susceptible to fire The Pantanal so far this month recorded 4,677 “hot spots” in the worst rash of fires since August 2005 according to Brazil’s space research agency Silva was one of about 20 men battling the fire through the night bathed in choking smoke and swarmed by gnats flushed out of the undergrowth by flames that encircled the firefighters on three sides They warned to look out for poisonous snakes and jaguars fleeing the fire in the night Rains brought temporary relief to the southern half of the Pantanal last week but fires again began to pick up this week “It’s our worst year here for fires It’s never been dry like this,” Silva said Powered by PageSuite