“We are the leaders in tropical forests conservation.” Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro offered these untenable words to the virtually-held UN General Assembly on 22 September 2020. On the same day, in the Center-West region of Brazil, a fire was consuming the forests and animals in one of the most important and unique ecosystems in the world: the Pantanal (Brazilian wetlands).

The Pantanal is one of Brazil's most exuberant and untouched biomes: 85% of its native vegetation cover remains intact as of 2010. The main threats to the conservation of the region are the expansion of soybean, sugarcane, and eucalyptus monocultures; soil erosion; extensive cattle ranching on planted pastures; and large-scale infrastructure projects, like dams and waterways. It is no coincidence that the Pantanal was designated a World Heritage Site and Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO. UNESCO Reserves are instruments for sustainable development and remain under the jurisdiction of the states where they are located.

PANTANAL’S BIGGEST DEVASTATION IN DECADES

Fires of unprecedented magnitude are currently burning in the Pantanal Biosphere Reserve and are threatening to spread into the Pantanal Conservation Area World Heritage site. A poor rainy season in 2019 resulted in the Paraguay River reaching its lowest level in 50 years. The lack of rain in conjunction with recent high temperatures has resulted in intense fires, affecting more than 1 million hectares. Furthermore, “strong winds and the location of active fires mean the site is in acute danger”. This poses a threat to forest biodiversity, in particular to slow-moving animals who cannot escape.

From January to the first half of September this year, more than 2.9 million hectares of the Pantanal were affected by the fire, according to the National Centre for the Prevention and Fight against Forest Fires (Prevfogo). [in Portuguese] This number represents about 19% of the biome in Brazil, according to the SOS Pantanal Institute. [in Portuguese] The burnt area corresponds, for example, to just over 19 times the size of São Paulo—the largest city in Brazil.

THE UNDERGROUND FIRES

A characteristic of the Pantanal’s burning that makes fighting its destruction especially difficult is peat fire, also called "underground fire," which burns without people noticing. The successive periods of droughts and floods in the seasons of the region ultimately create layer upon layer of organic matter in the soil. Firefighters usually describe it like a sandwich: a layer of land, another layer of vegetation, another layer of earth, and so on.

Over the years, this material becomes highly flammable. When flames reach the underground vegetation, due to its high concentration of organic matter, it burns extremely efficiently. As soon as the fire reaches the drier layers on top, the flames then propagate all too easily.

THE AGRIBUSINESS ROLE

Experts generally assume that, as in previous years, most fires were deliberately started to make way for cattle grazing and soy plantations. “Whoever sets fire to the Pantanal is a person,” said local environmental protection advocate André Luiz Siqueira. [in Portuguese] “Natural fires are generated by lightning, which are always associated with the rainy season. But as it did not rain in the Pantanal, it is clear that man is the main cause,” explains the biologist. Deforestation and fires go hand-in-hand. Just last April, a court in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul authorized the agricultural company Majora Participações to clear 42,500 hectares in the Pantanal Sul—although the Public Ministry currently opposes the decision. [in Portuguese]

The extent of this year's conflagration, however, suggests another cause: climate change. As mentioned, the wetlands depend on the rains and periodic flooding of tributaries in the central Brazilian plateau, which are currently experiencing one of the worst drought seasons. According to the Brazilian Agricultural Research Institute Embrapa [in Portuguese] the rainy season, from October to March, in the Pantanal basin recorded 43% less rainfall than the average of previous years.

THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF GROWING FIRES

While the Pantanal burns and the Amazon registers ever-increasing degradation rates, Brazil suffers the threat of being left aside in the global economy. Investment funds and Brazilian banks have issued alerts as to the state of the economy, and the threat that the major free trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur will fail—due to Bolsonaro’s non-compliance with the environmental standards—looms large. In addition, ambassadors for eight European countries sent Brazilian Vice President Hamilton Mourão a letter stating that, while their countries make “efforts [to look] for supply chains not linked to deforestation…Brazil is making it increasingly difficult for companies and investors to meet their environmental, social and governance criteria”.

The Vice President and the Minister of the Environment, Ricardo Salles, instead of addressing legitimate concerns about Brazil’s environmental record, launched a campaign to discredit the speeches of environmentalists and their supporters. Using excerpts from a Greenpeace video without authorisation, Mourão then claimed on Twitter that organisations like Greenpeace were manipulating their audiences regarding deforestation, and instead insisted that Brazil, among the world’s countries, “most preserves” its forests. Advocacy organisation Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, which supports the preservation of Indigenous lands, responded to the Mourão’s statements with another video, saying that “the Amazon is the heart of Brazil. Whoever sets it on fire is the enemy of the country”. The organisation also calls for, in defence of the Amazon, the Brazilian president to lose all support, alluding to the internationally-organised movement under the hashtag “Defund Bolsonaro”.

The flames in the Pantanal are now more severe and recurrent not only due to climate change itself but also due to a clear lack of planning [in Portuguese] by the environmental agencies, especially at the federal level. Since the beginning of the year, it was already known that the region would face its greatest drought in almost five decades, that one of the main rivers in the region, Paraguay, would have its flow reduced considerably, and that the lack of activity in the main neighbouring biome, the cerrado, would have a direct impact on the Pantanal. Despite this knowledge, Bolsonaro’s administration actively reduced resources for prevention and environmental inspection.

The two main federal agencies that operate in this area are Ibama and ICMBIO. Between 2019 and 2020, the Environment Ministry cut in almost 35% of Ibama's budget. Forest fire prevention and control budgets fell 16% in the same period, falling from R $ 45.9 million a year to 38.6 million. At ICMBIO, the proportional decline was greater. Environmental inspection and prevention as well as forest fire fighting departments lost 48.6% of their budget. These top-down restrictions make it harder for the agencies to have independence from the administration and to perform their roles in forest and biodiversity preservation.

BRAZIL’S RESPONSE TO THE PANTANAL FIRES RUNS CONTRARY TO SDGs

Brazil’s fires and the deforestation effects in the Pantanal region specifically are worrying for the local communities, but it is not only Brazilians that are affected. The world climate and environment are linked regardless of state borders. Brazil’s allowing the propagation of such mass destruction goes against the at least two of the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs)—13, addressing climate action, and 15, regarding “life on land”. Brazil’s practices are also contrary to the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, ironically held in Rio in 2012, where a document entitled “The Future We Want” led to the development of the SDGs. The SDGs are a set of 17 measurable targets across a range of areas aimed at promoting “a more sustainable future for all”. The SDGs follow the earlier Millennium Development Goals and are meant to address criticism of the original Millennium Goals failing to address the role of the environment in development.