The area burned in Brazil this year represents an increase of 150% compared to 2023, according to a survey by the MapBiomas Fire Monitor released this Friday (11). 22.38 million hectares were devastated, equivalent to the area of the state of Roraima, which has 22.43 million hectares.
The study was carried out between January and September 2024. In the same period of 2023, around 9 million hectares were burned across the country.
This year, more than half of the area destroyed in the first nine months is in the Amazon, with 56% in just three states: Pará, Mato Grosso and Tocantins. The municipalities that were most affected are São Félix do Xingu (PA) and Corumbá (MS), with 1 million and 741 thousand hectares burned, respectively.
The coordinator of MapBiomas Fogo, Ane Alencar, said that the drought in the Amazon further worsened the fires in the region.
“The dry period in the Amazon, which normally runs from June to October, has been particularly severe this year, further worsening the fire crisis in the region – a reflection of the intensification of climate change, which ends up playing a crucial role in the spread of fires,” he said.
So far, September is the month with the highest number of fires this year. In 2024, 10.65 million hectares were burned, which represents an increase of 181% compared to the same period of the previous year, when 3.85 million were recorded.
Most devastated vegetation
The 5.5 million hectares burned in the Amazon in September represent a growth of 196% compared to September 2023. According to the research, half of the vegetation that was set on fire was forest formations and 33% was pasture.
See below how Brazilian biomes were harmed until September this year
Cerrado
The Cerrado was the second biome most affected by fire in September, with 4.3 million hectares burned. It is the largest area burned in a month of September in the last five years in the region, with 64% more than the historical average for the period.
“September marks the peak of the drought in the Cerrado and this makes the impact of the fire even more severe. With the vegetation extremely dry and vulnerable, the fire spreads quickly, even resulting in poor air quality in nearby cities, affecting the health of urban and rural populations”, says Vera Arruda, technical coordinator of the Fire Monitor.
Pantanal
In the period studied in 2024, the area devastated by flames in the biome increased by 2,306% compared to the average of the previous five years.
Almost 1.5 million hectares were burned in the first nine months of the year.
Atlantic Forest
The vegetation had 896 thousand hectares burned this year until September. Only a quarter of this total was burned last month: 283 thousand hectares.
This number represents an increase of 382% compared to August, according to the survey. Sugarcane plantations were the most affected.
In the Caatinga and Pampa, drops in the number of fires were recorded compared to the same period in 2023.
According to MapBiomas, the last three years in the Caatinga were not droughts, even with the La Niña and El Niño phenomena. In Pampa, above-average rainfall resulted in a burned area smaller than the average for the last three years in the region.
This content was originally published in Area affected by fires in Brazil this year was 150% larger than in 2023, says MapBiomas on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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