Area of forest burned from January to October 2022 was 80% higher than the total recorded in the 12 months of 2021

October wasn't just hot because of the first and second rounds of the elections, which took place at the beginning and end of the month. Between the 1st and the 30th of last month, fires in Brazil increased by 66%, according to data from MapBiomas' Fire Monitor. In just 30 days, 3.4 million hectares were burned - 1.3 million hectares more than in the same month in 2021.  

No biome burned as much in October as the Cerrado, where the area affected almost tripled compared to the same month last year. 1.8 million hectares were affected by fire in the biome - an increase of 196% compared to October 2021. The increase in fires in the Amazon was also higher than the national average: 74% more than in the same month in 2021. The area burned in October this year in this biome totaled 1.3 million hectares. 

The figures between January and October this year show that 15.2 million hectares were affected by fire in Brazil - an area larger than the state of Ceará. The increase compared to the first 10 months of 2021 was 11%, or 1.5 million hectares more. Most of the area consumed by fire (72%) was native vegetation - mostly savannah and grassland formations. Pastures accounted for 24.5% of the area burned in the first ten months of 2022. However, a significant increase was seen in forests: around 2.4 million hectares of forests were burned in Brazil from January to October 2022 - an increase of 80% on the total recorded in the 12 months of 2021.

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The Amazon accounted for 85% of forest fires in the first 10 months of this year. During this period, the forests of the Amazon burned almost twice as much as was burned in forests in the region in the whole of 2021. Almost a third (29%, or two million hectares) of what was burned in this biome affected forests, being fires or deforestation followed by fire. This figure was more than double, 111% higher than the area of forest affected by fire in the biome in the same period in 2021 (976,000 ha). Considering the total area burned in the Amazon, and not just forests, the increase compared to last year was 34%.

But the biome most affected by fire in Brazil in the first ten months of 2021 is the Cerrado. Half of the area burned in the country between January and October (48%, or 7.2 million hectares) is in the Cerrado. Although this biome is half the size of the Amazon, it practically ties with it in terms of area burned: the Amazon accounted for 47% of the area burned in the first 10 months of the year (7.1 million hectares). The increase in the area burned in the Cerrado in this period was 17%. 

Mato Grosso alone accounted for one in four hectares burned in Brazil between January and October, or 3.4 million hectares. Pará and Tocantins occupy second and third place in the ranking, with 2.5 million hectares and 2.2 million hectares, respectively. Together, these three states account for more than half (54%) of the total area burned in Brazil this year up to October.  

The three municipalities that have burned the most this year are in the Amazon: São Félix do Xingu (PA), Altamira (PA) and Porto Velho (RO). Together, they account for 1.1 million hectares burned, or 8% of the national total.) This is an increase of 131% compared to the 495,000 hectares burned in the same period in 2021. This increase reflects the advance of deforestation in western Pará and Rondônia.

Good news came from the Atlantic Forest and the Pantanal. The latter showed the smallest area burned in the last four years in the period between January and October this year. The Fire Monitor recorded a drop of 87% compared to the first ten months of 2021. The month of October, however, brought an area burned equivalent to double the total burned in the previous months. The Atlantic Forest, in turn, had the smallest area burned since 2019, with the exception of the first months of the year (January and February), due to a fire in the region near the Ilha Grande National Park.

Other highlights in Brazil from October 2022

• 76% of the area burned in October 2022 was in native vegetation, mostly in savannah and grassland formations.
• Among the types of natural formations, savannah formations were the most affected by fire, accounting for 37% of the burned area in October 2022.
• Among the types of agricultural use, pastures stood out, accounting for 21% of the burnt area in October 2022.
• The states that burned the most were Mato Grosso, Maranhão and Piauí. 
• The municipalities of Cocalinho (MT) and Novo Santo Antônio (MT) had the largest areas burned.

 
Other Amazon highlights - January to October 2022

• Forest formation was the type of native vegetation that burned the most in the Amazon: 29% of the area burned between January and October 2022.
• Pasture was the land use class that burned the most, with 48% of the total area burned in the Amazon in October 2022.

 
Other Cerrado highlights - January to October 2022

• Almost half of the area burned in the Cerrado between January and October 2022 was in savannah formations (3.5 Mha, 49%).
• The states of the MATOPIBA region (Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí and Bahia) had the highest fire occurrence in October in the Cerrado biome.
   

Pampa Highlights - January to October 2022 

• In the summer of 2022 (January and February) a record area of fires was recorded in the Pampa, with 28,039 ha. 
• On the other hand, in the period between March and October, the total area burned was 1,117 ha, lower than that recorded for the same period in the previous three years.

Caatinga Highlights - October 2022

• In the Caatinga, October was the month with the largest burnt area for the whole of 2022, with 300,000 ha burnt and an increase of 134% compared to September, mainly in areas close to the Cerrado biome and in the state of Piauí.

About the Fire Monitor:

The Fire Monitor is the monthly mapping of fire scars for Brazil, covering the period from 2019 onwards, and updated monthly. It is based on monthly mosaics of images from the Sentinel 2 satellite with a spatial resolution of 10 meters and a temporal resolution of 5 days. The Fire Monitor reveals in almost real time the location and extent of burned areas in all Brazilian biomes, making it easier to account for the destruction caused by fire.  Access the Fire Monitor and Boletim Mensal de Outubro