The Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetland, is on fire. This precious ecosystem, teeming with unique flora and fauna, should be treasured. Instead, it is being pushed to extinction by the climate crisis and agribusiness.

This year alone, over two million hectares of the Pantanal have been reduced to ash. The ancestral lands of the Kadiwéu and Guató Indigenous peoples, where they have lived sustainably for generations, were engulfed in flames. Hundreds of unique animals have been killed, and a once vibrant wetland is drying up.

This is part of an appalling pattern of recent fires. In 2020, one-third of the biome burned, killing 17 million vertebrates and releasing 115 million tons of carbon dioxide, the same as Belgium’s emissions for the entire year. The ecosystem has struggled to recover since, and the situation so far this year is even worse, with twice as much destruction compared to the same period in 2020.

Many species rely on a healthy Pantanal to survive: over 2000 plants, 580 birds, 271 fish, 174 mammals and 57 amphibians, many of which are endangered or threatened. It is ordinarily a sanctuary for charismatic wildlife. It’s home to jaguars, giant anteaters, hyacinth macaws, tapirs, marsh deer, and many more. However, the fires turned what should be a refuge into an inescapable deathtrap.

Wildlife rescuers and vets worked tirelessly to save these animals. The photos they sent us show defenseless animals burnt alive, others still clinging to life with horrific injuries, and rescuers working desperately to save them. As of September 15th, the Brazilian Ministry for the Environment reported that 619 animals had been rescued from the flames. However, the number of animals that have perished in the fires will, of course, be orders of magnitude higher.

The Pantanal needs more firefighters, more funding, and more on-the-ground support to tackle blazes when they emerge. However, that is only a short-term solution, and we must tackle the root causes. While the fires that ravage this land are often set by individual ranchers, they are worsened by a toxic mix of drought and extreme weather caused by the climate crisis, land clearing for cattle ranching and monoculture farming, mining, road construction, and hydropower. It is also largely unprotected – around 93% of the Pantanal is private land, and 80% of that is used for cattle ranching.

International leaders must step up. Between 2012-2021, an area of native vegetation in the Pantanal four times the size of Paris was wiped out on properties linked to the EU market. However, even now, as the Pantanal burns every year, South American and EU agriculture ministers, as well as the leaders of some Member States, are reportedly stalling implementation of the EU’s Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which aims to eliminate deforestation from EU supply chains.

Brazilian civil society organizations are pushing back against this delay, making it clear that these do not represent their views. On the contrary, they are urging European leaders to implement the legislation quickly and then expand it to protect other ecosystems as well.

In addition to the EUDR, the EU must rapidly mobilize funding for wetlands. We cannot end the climate crisis without protecting them, and the run-up to COP30 in Brazil must be marked by new finance for wetland partnerships.

Agribusiness and our global addiction to carbon are drying this wetland out, turning powerful rivers into corridors which spread fires further. Meanwhile, wealthy, high-emitting countries are not reducing their carbon emissions, guaranteeing the ideal conditions for more fires. These failures directly lead to animals being burned alive, local and Indigenous communities being left dispossessed of their ancestral lands, and yet more carbon emissions as the wetland blazes.

If we don’t act now, the Pantanal may effectively disappear by 2050, literally going up in smoke. To truly protect it, we need an immediate halt on further agricultural expansion, major restoration projects for the land which has already burned, and bold global action to slash carbon emissions, reaching a zero-carbon global economy by 2035. These fires were a choice: we can and must now make a better one.

Steve Trent is CEO and founder of the Environmental Justice Foundation.

Banner image: Fire in the Pantanal. Image courtesy of Gustavo Figueiroa via Environmental Justice Foundation.

See related:

Fire bans not effective as the Amazon and Pantanal burn, study says

With Europe’s move to delay tropical forest protections, everything burns (commentary)