Area is less than 23,675 hectares burned in the same month as 2024, but higher than the 3,350 of 2023
The Pantanal had 10,825 hectares of burned area in January 2025, according to data from the UFRJ (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro).
In 2024, there were 2.6 million hectares burned in the biome – a value that corresponds to 17% of the total area of the Pantanal, estimated at about 15 million hectares. In the historical series of LASA, which began in 2012, last year was the 2nd in size of the area affected by fires. Loses to 2020, when 3.6 million hectares were burned.
The Pantanal burned area in January 2025 is less than 23,675 hectares burned in the same month of 2024, but higher than the 3,350 of 2023.
The territory devastated by burning in Brazil 79% in 2024 compared to 2023, according to data from Mapbiomas. 30,867,676 hectares last year were burned – an area larger than the entire territory of Italy.
Of these more than 30 million hectares, 73% were native vegetation, 25% in forest formations. Fires in pasture areas totaled 21.9% of the total of 2024. Here is the data (PDF – 4 MB).
Fire Foci
Brazil the year 2024 with 278,299 fire outbreaks – an increase of 46.5% compared to 2023, when 189,901 were recorded. The data are from the system of the (National Institute for Space Research).
The amount of fires in 2024 was the highest since 2010. In the historical series, 2007 remains the worst.
The Amazon was the most fired biome in 2024. There were 140,346 from January 1 to December 31, 2024, which corresponds to 50.4% of the total. It is followed by:
- Cerrado, with 81,468 outbreaks (29.3%);
- Atlantic Forest, with 21,328 outbreaks (7.7%);
- Caatinga, with 20,235 outbreaks (7.3%);
- Pantanal, with 14,498 outbreaks (5.2%);
- Pampa, with 424 outbreaks (0.2%).
In January, the country 3,137 fire outbreaks. The Amazon concentrates the largest portion of the fire outbreaks, with 1,219 – or 38.9%. The Pantanal had 34 occurrences of the type.
