Up in Flames
The Pantanal is the world’ s largest tropical wetland, covering an area more than 20 times the size of the Florida Everglades and supporting one of the greatest populations of Jaguars. The region has always experienced occasional seasonal wildfire during the hotter and drier summer months, but those fires have grown dramatically worse in recent years. In 2024 alone, dangerous wildfires burned more than 3 million acres of the Pantanal.
The flames brought devastation. Hyacinth Macaw nests were consumed before the eggs could hatch. Jaguars and other animals were injured and burned. The landscape itself was left scarred by the fires. Rising temperatures and more frequent drought— both caused by climate change— practically ensure the fires will return in 2025 and beyond.
Fires in the Pantanal | Bruno Carvalho Jaguar with bandaged feet after fire | André Bittar
In Hot Water
Beautiful and beneficial, coral reefs support more than a quarter of all marine species for at least part of their lifecycle. Among those species are the corals themselves, which literally build the reef out of their own calcium carbonate skeletons.
Most reef-building corals depend on tiny algae called zooxanthellae, which live inside them and help turn sunlight into energy. But these algae are extremely sensitive to heat. When ocean temperatures rise too high, the algae die, causing the coral to lose its color and turn stark white— a process known as coral bleaching that can impact vast regions. One recent multi-year coral bleaching event impacted 70 % of the world’ s coral reefs. Some corals can survive a bleaching event, but many die before conditions improve enough to recover. As oceans continue to warm, entire reef systems could collapse, leaving coastal communities more vulnerable to storm damage and countless marine species without a home.
Coral reef and tropical forest in Papua New Guinea | Sarah Lewis
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