Fire in Brazil, in the Amazon rainforest, in August 2020. -

CARL DE SOUZA / AFP

South America is hit by extreme weather conditions.

Entire regions bordering Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia and southern Brazil, hit by historic drought, have experienced devastating fires in recent months.

As the dry season draws to a close in this region of central South America, observers agree that the situation on the fire front in 2020 has been particularly critical.

“The fires this year are much more numerous.

In Argentina, for example, they have increased by around 170%, which is very serious, ”explains Elisabeth Möhle, researcher in environmental policies at the National University of San Martin (UNSM).

Rivers at their lowest level

For her, these fires come "within the framework of a year in which the mega-fires have multiplied in the Amazon, Australia, California ... and now the Gran Chaco", the second wooded area in South America after the Amazon, in the border of the four countries.

In the first place, long months of unprecedented drought: unheard of for 47 years in the Pantanal, the largest wetland in the world, between Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia.

The Parana River, one of the most powerful on the planet, which originates in Brazil and flows into the Rio de la Plata estuary, had never been so low since 1970.

In Rosario, in eastern Argentina, the level in August was 80 cm, compared to 3 to 4 meters normally at this time of year.

Ditto for the Paraguay River, with a drop "not seen for half a century" in Asuncion, according to the National Directorate of Meteorology.

An ideal scenario for fires, fueled by high winds and temperatures exceeding 40 degrees, to spread with extreme ease.

Especially since the dry season is the period of burning, a practice still very common in the region, intended to regenerate the soil.

Damaged biodiversity reservoirs

In Paraguay, "the outbreaks (voluntary or involuntary), at the end of September and the beginning of October, broke all records", told AFP Eduardo Mingo, of the national direction of Meteorology.

According to authorities, the number of fires increased by 46% in 2020.

Due to the intensity of the fires, Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay, lived several days in a row under heavy smoke.

Without the usual rainfall that floods the land, wetlands have suffered particularly.

In the Brazilian Pantanal, a unique biodiversity sanctuary, images of charred trees, caimans, charred birds and snakes have toured the world.

A quarter of the area was devastated by flames between January and September, while the Paraguayan part had already been badly affected in 2019.

In the Parana delta, another vast wetland and reservoir of biodiversity, fires struck in January with unprecedented intensity, transforming tens of thousands of hectares over the months into “ash deserts”.

“Reptiles died, migrating birds, small mammals, turtles…” Cesar Massi, naturalist in the province of Santa Fe, told AFP. “I remember that during the previous drought in 2008, there was had fires.

But this year it was stronger, more intense, and more extensive over time, ”he notes.

Experts call for dialogue

Another cause of the disaster, arson, intended to deforest and expand agriculture, while the trade in agricultural land is for these countries an incomparable source of foreign exchange.

Faced with the disaster in the Parana delta, the Argentine government itself has pointed the finger at the responsibility of cattle breeders, accused of lighting fires to "extend the breeding areas".

At the same time, NGOs denounce the lack of financial resources allocated by governments to enforce regulations and set up real prevention programs on a large scale.

While the episodes of drought should multiply due to global warming, Elizabeth Möhle pleads above all for "a dialogue between the various actors", farmers, breeders, authorities, ecologists, in order to "regulate the use of territories and ensure development. more sustainable which currently does not exist ”.

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