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Added on the 30/07/2020 04:29:18 - Copyright : AFP EN
Animal carcasses litter the surroundings of the Transpantaneira road, which crosses the Pantanal in Brazil's Mato Grosso state, after raging fires consumed part of the world's largest tropical wetland. IMAGES
Firefighters work at the site of a blaze in Brazil's Pantanal wetlands, where flames are reaching the major road crossing the area. IMAGES
Rio de Janeiro, Oct 9 (EFE).- A statue of the president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, emulating Nero, the emperor who saw Rome burn while playing his lyre, was placed by the Greenpeace organization in a devastated area of ??the Pantanal.
Rio de Janeiro, Aug 24 (EFE).- Exotic and imposing, blue macaws, long sought after by illegal trade, face a new threat this year: fires affecting the Pantanal, one of the country's most important biomes and home to this striking species.FOOTAGE OF THE FIRE AND THE MACAWS COURTESY OF MATO GROSSO FIRE DEPARTMENT AND SABRINA APPEL INCLUDES STATEMENTS BY NEIVA GUEDES, PRESIDENT OF THE ARARA (MACAW) BLUE INSTITUTETRANSLATIONS: NEIVA GUEDES"This year, unlike other years, there was not enough rain and (the Pantanal) was very dry, below the average of previous years, so it came with the problem naturally and that is added to the strong winds, vegetation that is dry and the culture of the Pantanal where man is used to cleaning the land for new crops by setting fire to the fields.""Eighty-seven percent of the habitat has already been burned down [as of August 14], but the dormitory where they concentrate to sleep is still intact. However, we took a look on Saturday, August 15, and saw that the number of ploughs that were arriving is not reaching the sanctuary. Why? Because there is a lot of smoke, there is a fire, there is a lack of food and a shortage of water, so they are practically moving around, looking for other places.""The fire was in a very large area and they are probably going to have difficulty finding a place where they have water, where they have food and that is protected.""Until they find spaces, places that have food, water and no disturbance for them I don't know how it will be... Because the burned area was very long in the Pantanal of Mato Grosso."
Climate change activists with the Extinction Rebellion group protest outside the Brazilian embassy in London to denounce the inaction of Jair Bolsonaro's government on Amazon deforestation and on fighting the fires ravaging the rainforest for weeks. Official figures show nearly 73,000 forest fires were recorded in Brazil in the first eight months of the year -- the highest number for any year since 2013. Most were in the Amazon. IMAGES
Firefighters from the ICMBio (Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation), Brazil's federal protected areas agency, use helicopters and make firebreaks to combat a blaze in the Amazon rainforest. Nearly 3,000 forest fires were registered in the Brazilian Amazon in February 2024, the highest for any February since records began in 1999, and made more likely by climate change, according to experts. IMAGES