Fires in Brazil in 2024: burned area exceeds historical average by 62%
Nearly a quarter of Brazil’s territory has been affected by fire at least once in the past 40 years. During this period, the Pantanal stood out with alarming figures: 62% of the biome’s area has experienced fire at least once. Additionally, nearly all of the fire in the region (93%) occurred in native vegetation — mainly grassland formations and flooded fields, which account for 71% of the affected area.
These figures are part of the Annual Fire Report (RAF) by MapBiomas, a collaborative network of universities, NGOs, and tech companies that maps land cover and land use across Brazil.
According to Eduardo Rosa, Pantanal mapping coordinator at MapBiomas, the advance of fire in the biome is closely tied to increasingly severe and prolonged drought periods.
“In recent years, the Pantanal has faced longer drought periods, especially around the Paraguay River — the most affected areas. These are forested regions subject to short flooding cycles,” he explains.
Rosa warns about the danger of repeated fires in these ecosystems:
“Fires kill forest species that are crucial to wildlife and also to local communities, as they provide food and resources.”
Pantanal leads in large-scale fire scars
When analyzing fires that affect large land areas, the Pantanal again tops the list among Brazilian biomes. It is home to the largest share of areas burned over 100,000 hectares (19.6%). It also stands out for fire scars ranging from 500 to 10,000 hectares (29.5%), spread across various regions of the biome.
In 2024, the area burned in the Pantanal increased by 157% compared to the historical average for the period studied.
Climatic conditions intensify impacts and hinder fire control
The Pantanal’s climatic characteristics make fire control particularly challenging. Long dry spells combined with strong winds allow flames to spread rapidly.
“Any hotspot must be tackled immediately. If not contained early, fire can quickly spread across vast areas,” Rosa emphasizes.
He adds that, although the Pantanal has some capacity for regeneration — due to its cycles of floods and droughts — the growing intensity of wildfires threatens this natural balance.
“The issue arises when uncontrolled fire hits non-adapted areas, such as forest and savanna vegetation. That’s when we see the death of species that don’t regenerate on their own,” he warns.
Controlled fire management may offer a solution
One of the strategies supported by experts is fire management — the use of controlled burns at strategic times, especially before peak drought periods, to reduce the amount of dry biomass and prevent large-scale wildfires.
“It’s about using fire as a tool. Burning at the right time can reduce the damage during more critical drought phases,” Rosa explains.
He argues that this approach needs to be better understood and integrated into conservation policies for the Pantanal biome.
Amazon and Cerrado also under threat
Although attention has largely focused on the Pantanal, the MapBiomas report shows that the Amazon and the Cerrado biomes also demand serious concern. Together, they accounted for 86% of the land burned at least once in Brazil between 1985 and 2024 — representing 89.5 million hectares in the Cerrado and 87.5 million in the Amazon.
Proportionally, the Cerrado has been more severely affected: 45% of its area has burned at least once. In the Amazon, that figure is 21%.
The three states with the highest burned areas are all located within these biomes: Mato Grosso, Pará, and Maranhão, which together accounted for 47% of Brazil’s total burned area over the past 40 years.
Additionally, of the 15 municipalities with the highest burned area during this period, seven are in the Cerrado and six in the Amazon. These 15 municipalities alone account for 10% of the total area affected by fire in the country since 1985.
In 2024, the Cerrado recorded 10.6 million hectares burned — 35% of the country’s total for the year — representing a 10% increase compared to the historical average of 9.6 million hectares per year.