Brazil prepares for third year of drought and wildfires

RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazil is bracing for the “high risk” that wildfires will ravage the Amazon rainforest and Pantanal wetlands in 2025 after the country faced a record drought last year, leaving many regions vulnerable and susceptible to renewed flames, even though most of Brazil is in the middle of the rainy season, most of the country faced drought at the beginning of the year, data from Brazil’s National Water Agency showed.

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The government said it is preparing for the third consecutive year of drought in the Amazon and the second in the Pantanal, with measures ranging from boosting the number of firefighters it employs to encouraging prescribed burning as a prevention strategy. The data points to another “critical” year, and has us “in a state of alert,” said Andre Lima, Brazil’s National Secretary for Deforestation Control, in a statement in March.