Photo credit: Marcele Becker

 

 

By Viviane Faver 

 

The Pantanal forest is the largest continental wetland in the world. Formed by flood plains, it has a gigantic aquatic environment, and is home to an immense biodiversity: 2000 species of plants, 582 species of birds, 132 species of mammals, 113 species of reptiles, and 41 species of amphibians. 

 

Unfortunately, since July, this Brazilian forest and all these living beings face their worst crisis of all time.  Under severe drought, the biome suffers from human-made fires and has already had more than 15% of its area devastated by flames, according to data from the National Center for the Prevention and Fighting of Forest Fires (Prevfogo)

 

The animals are dying of hunger; with burns in their bodies, part of the forest has turned to ash, and residents of the region have had their houses burnt, losing everything they had. Even so, the Brazilian Institute of the Environment (Ibama) slowed the pace of inspection operation.

 

 

Amid the Brazilian government’s inaction, voluntary work is doing everything to save Pantanal forest. I talked to two women, volunteers, who have rescued animals in the Pantanal forest since the fire started. Co-founder of the non-profit organization Ampara Marcele Becker, and Pantanal tour guide Eduarda Fernandes met at the beginning of the crisis and have ever since fought this cause together. 

 

Eduarda Fernandes was one of the first people to witness the Pantanal forest’s tragedy. She says it all started in July when she saw fires and smoke signals from afar. “Three days later, the fire increased dramatically, and I found several injured animals that needed help. So, I had the idea of setting up a wild animal rescue group. “

 

 

She reports that at the beginning, all the help was made by Orgs and volunteers. She contacted the National Association of Environmental Specialist Career Servers (Ascema) and the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) asking for help, and they said that they would not be able to put together a team.

 

 

 

 

“So I asked if I could set up a group of volunteers, and they said that only if I could get Ascema’s permission. So, we still had to wait for this permission to get on with the work, and by then, it was too late, and the situation had already taken on a gigantic shape “, she says.

 

From then on, images began to circulate on social networks, which caught the attention of international organizations. “The help of the Brazilian Army and the mobilization of the government came only last month (September), but the Pantanal was already on fire since July”.

 

In the meantime, Eduarda Fernandes and her group of volunteer partners opened an Instagram account called “Pantanal Relief Fund”, with which she managed to raise $75,000 to help hire veterinarians, get equipment for rescue and care of animals, and finance the placement of troughs with feed for hungry animals.

 

Regarding her personal experience, the tour guide says she has no words to describe the feeling. “The places where I used to walk every day turned to ash; the trees were burned and turned to dust, and rivers dried up. It is a devastating and catastrophic scenario”, she describes.

 

The organization Ampara Silvestre, founded four years ago, has about 15 permanent volunteers in the Pantanal. In an interview with co-founder Marcele Becker, I hear the situation is terrible and far from being resolved. “We operate mainly in the Transpantaneira area, and our concerns now are the soil that continues to burn on the inside, burning the animals’ legs, thirsty because the rivers have dried up and hungry because all the trees die.” She adds that 80% of Encontro das Águas State Park has been destroyed.

 

The two Brazilian activists, Eduarda Fernandes and Marcele Becker, agree that this tragedy could have been avoided had the government been more agile. “The government acted late, much after several organizations had been pushing the matter on international media.”

 

They also add that this serves as a lesson for us to recognize and value the forests, which are the source of life for human beings to live in this world. Because if they die, we die too.

 

According to the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe), fires in the Brazilian Pantanal region increased by 210% in 2020 compared to the same period in 2019. Considering the period from January to September 2019, 4660 fires were registered in 2020, and 14,489 outbreaks were recorded. Until then, the record was 12,536 fires in 2015, which was surpassed in the first seven months of 2020.

 

A survey published by the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Union’s Copernicus System revealed that the fires in New South Wales (Australia), the Siberian Arctic, the west coast of the United States, and the Brazilian Pantanal were the largest of all time. The survey was based on 18 years of data on global forest fires compiled by the mentioned organizations.