Man-made climate change has left 40% more intense and 4 to 5 times more likely to experience hot, dry and windy conditions in the Pantanal driving the catastrophic fires during June this year. The information comes from the first attribution study on this event carried out by World Weather Attribution (WWA), an international network of climate scientists.
The study was conducted by 18 researchers as part of the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group, including scientists from universities and meteorological agencies in Brazil, Portugal, the United States, Sweden, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
“This year’s Pantanal fires have the potential to become the worst ever. Even hotter conditions are expected throughout this month and the coming months, and there is a significant threat that the fires could burn more than three million hectares,” warns Filippe Lemos Maia Santos, a Brazilian scientist who participated in the study.
The report highlights the urgent need to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy globally, reduce deforestation and enforce controlled burn bans to address the impact of wildfires on wildlife, indigenous communities and farmers.
“Our study should be seen as a warning – if the world continues to burn fossil fuels, precious ecosystems like the Pantanal and the Amazon rainforest could pass tipping points where natural recovery from wildfires and droughts becomes impossible,” said Friederike Otto, Professor of Climate Science at the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London.
Study Data
The Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetland, is experiencing a devastating fire season. More than 1.2 million hectares (12,000 km²) are considered burned – about 8% of the Brazilian Pantanal. The fires began in late May, following an extremely poor rainy season.
In June, the Pantanal saw devastating wildfires, with an estimated 440,000 hectares burned, breaking the previous June record of 257,000 hectares. The peak of the fire season typically occurs in August and September.
PHOTOS – Fires in June in the Pantanal
Source: CNN Brasil
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