Data from MapBiomas shows that the area affected by fire was 119% larger than in the same period in 2023
July 12, 2024
Brazil burns. This is what the latest data from MapBiomas reveals. Across the country, the area affected by fire in the first half of this year was 4.48 million hectares, 78% of which was in native vegetation - the majority in grassland vegetation (40%). Among the biomes, the Amazon recorded the largest area burned, with 2.97 million hectares - 66% of the total affected by fire in the country.
The The Cerrado was the second biome hardest hit by fires, with 947,000 hectares burned in the first six months of 2024 - 48% (307,000 hectares) more than in the same period in 2023. Most of the fires occurred in areas of natural vegetation (72%). In June, this biome recorded the most burned areas, with 534,000 hectares. The figures are part of the MapBiomas Fire Monitora monthly mapping of burned areas in Brazil since 2019, produced from satellite image monitoring and data processing using artificial intelligence.
>> Fire Monitor: Area burned between January and June this year
In the first half of this year, states with the most burned areas in the country were: Roraima, with 2 million hectares, which represents 44% of the total burned in Brazil; Pará, with 535,000 hectares, and Mato Grosso do Sul, with 470,000 hectares. The three accounted for 67% of the total area affected by flames in the first half of the year.
“At the beginning of 2024, we observed a significant concentration of fires in the Amazon, especially in the grassland areas of Roraima. This state, unlike the rest of the biome, faces a period of drought in the first months of the year. This phenomenon has been intensified by the drier climatic conditions resulting from El Niño, creating an environment conducive to the spread of fire, with additional control and mitigation challenges,” says Felipe Martenexen, the IPAM researcher responsible for mapping the Amazon in the Fire Monitor.
“In June, fires were more concentrated in the Cerrado and the Pantanal, regions that are facing their own fire season due to reduced rainfall and rising temperatures. In the Cerrado, it is common to burn more during this time because of the drought, but the area burned in the first half of the year in the biome was the largest in the last six years monitored. In the Pantanal, the fire season started earlier than expected, intensifying the challenges for fire management,” explains Vera Arruda, a researcher at IPAM and technical coordinator of the Fire Monitor.
In the Pantanal 468,000 hectares burned in the first half of this year, 370,000 hectares in June - equivalent to 79% of the total, the largest area burned in the biome in the first half ever observed by the Fire Monitor. One of the areas most affected by fire in the Pantanal in 2024 was near the city of Corumbá, with 299,000 hectares burned in June alone. In the first six months of the year, the area burned in the biome increased by 529%. It was 394,000 hectares more than the historical average of the previous five years.
Extreme drought and fires in the Pantanal in 2024
The relationship between water and fire in the Pantanal is undeniable; the drastic reduction in water surface associated with extreme drought events creates favorable conditions for the occurrence and spread of fires. The Pantanal, proportionally, has also been the biome that has dried up the most over the last 39 years. The water surface in 2023 was 382,000 hectares - 61% below the historical average. The year 2023 was 50% drier than 2018, when the last major flood occurred in the biome. The MapBiomas teams prepared a technical note detailing the relationship between drought and fire in the biome.
Technical note on extreme drought and fires in the Pantanal in 2024
In the last few months of 2023, the Pantanal already registered a water surface below the average of the last six years and equivalent to 2020 and 2021, which were the driest years ever observed since 1985. In 2024, the situation worsened, with accumulated rainfall from January to May reaching the lowest level since 2020, indicating a return to extreme drought conditions. “In 2024, we didn't have the expected flood peak. On the contrary, we are facing a period of drought that should last until September, facilitating the incidence and spread of fire,” says Eduardo Rosa, from MapBiomas.
Overview of Burnt Areas in the Atlantic Forest, Pampa and Caatinga
In the Atlantic Forest, 73,000 hectares were burned between January and June 2024, most of it (71%) concentrated in agricultural areas. In the Pampa, in the same period, the area burned was 1,145 hectares, among the smallest seen in the last six years. Normally, the Pampa has few burned areas, which become even smaller during periods of El Niño, a climate phenomenon that manifests itself in the opposite way in southern Brazil, resulting in increased rainfall. In the Caatinga, 16,229 hectares were burned in the first six months, an increase of 54% compared to the same period in 2023, mainly concentrated in savannah formations (65%).
Record area burned in June
In June, 1.1 million hectares were burned in the country - 103% more than in the same period last year (560,000 hectares more). Of this total, 81% of the burned area was in native vegetation - the majority in grassland (46%). In agricultural areas, 11% of the areas hit by flames in June were pastures.
With regard to the states, the ones that burned the most this month were: Mato Grosso do Sul (369,000 hectares), Tocantins (229,000 hectares) and Mato Grosso (202,000 hectares), with the municipalities of Corumbá (MS), Tangará da Serra (MT) and Porto Murtinho (MS) standing out.
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 Sentinel 2 multispectral images with a spatial resolution of 10 meters and a temporal resolution of 5 days. The Fire Monitor reveals the location and extent of burnt areas in almost real time, making it easier to account for the destruction caused by firehttps://plataforma.brasil.mapbiomas.org/monitor-do-fogo).