Federal government makes progress against Pantanal fires

On Wednesday, July 10, the Environment and Climate Change Minister, Marina Silva, emphasized the progress that has been achieved by the task force fighting the fires that are scorching the Pantanal. The discussion took place shortly after another meeting of the Federal Government's Situation Room on the subject at the Planalto Palace.

On Wednesday, July 10, Environment and Climate Change Minister Marina Silva discussed the progress that has been made by the task force fighting the fires that are scorching the Pantanal. The discussion took place shortly after another meeting at the Federal Government's Situation Room at Planalto Palace.

The first signs of stabilization are here. This relates to every action that the federal government has taken in unison with the state governments, as well as the significant effort made by a true firefighting task force" - Marina Silva, Environment and Climate Minister

According to the minister, the firefighting efforts have successfully extinguished 30 of the 54 fires that had been registered as of July 7, which accounts for 55% of the total. Of the 24 still active, 13 are under control, meaning that they are encircled by a line of control.

"The first signs of stabilization are here. This relates to every action that the federal government has taken in unison with the state governments, as well as the significant effort made by a true firefighting task force", said Marina Silva.

Currently, the Federal Government has deployed 830 professionals, 15 aircraft, 15 boats and three operating bases: Corumbá, Poconé and Porto Conceição. "All these bases are staging planned operations from Ibama and ICMBio firefighters, with help from the Navy, Army and Air Force. We have already logged around 395 flight hours in this operation. This is a huge effort in terms of the locations, which are difficult to access, but it has helped our teams gain speed and effectiveness," explained the minister.

Of the 830 experts working on the ground, 452 are from the Armed Forces, 286 from Ibama and ICMBio, 82 from the National Security Force and 10 from DNIT. There are also 48 people from the National Security Force who are currently mobilizing for deployment.

HUMAN ACTION – From May to June, all fires in the Pantanal biome were caused by human action. There were no fires started by lightning. Vegetation burnings in the Pantanal are strictly illegal and punishable by two to four years in jail.

TEMPERATURE – The |pantanal’s most severe drought in 70 years has been exacerbated by climate change. The period between July 2023 and June 2024 was the warmest ever recorded by modern measurements. Furthermore, the Paraguay River basin has had the lowest cumulative rainfall per hydrological year since 2001.

Meeting of the Federal Government's situation room: daily monitoring. Photo: Henrique Raynal / Civil Office

MANAGEMENT – The minister also spoke about the importance of regulatory frameworks, such as the Bill establishing the National Integrated Fire Management Policy, which aims to regulate and promote coordination of integrated fire management to the number of forest fires and their damage in Brazil. "The National Integrated Fire Management Bill has already been approved by Congress. Now we are at the stage of regulating the law so that we can implement it effectively," she said.

PROVISIONAL MEASURES – Marina Silva also praised the publication of Provisional Measure No. 1,239, which changes to three months the timeframe for rehiring personnel to deal with emergency forest firefighting cases. In addition, Provisional Measure No. 1,240 allows foreign pilots to fly aircraft in Brazil in these specific cases to support forest firefighting operations.

"The signing and publication of the provisional measure that reduces the interval for hiring ICMBio and Ibama firefighters gives us speed in expanding the teams, because you know that there is a whole legal process within the rules that are established for hiring firefighters, in which an interstice of at least six months was needed to be able to make these hires. Now we can do it more quickly," she said, referring to Provisional Measure No. 1,239. 

"We also have the provisional measure that establishes the possibility for foreign pilots to fly aircraft in Brazilian territory, which was not allowed. With this change, we are now also able, if necessary, to hire aircraft from other countries or receive help from other countries with pilots who are not necessarily Brazilian pilots," praised Marina Silva, referring to Provisional Measure No. 1,240.