Forest fires exterminate fields and native fauna in Argentina

Argentina began 2022 fighting against fires, droughts and heat waves, the most noticeable effects of the climate crisis that is already established on the planet. A situation that leads environmentalists to demand mitigation adaptation policies and criticize the lack of clear laws to protect the ecosystem.

The accumulation of greenhouse gases caused by means of transport, industries, food production and deforestation were the main responsible for climate change, according to Greenpeace.

The indiscriminate destruction of flora prevented the release of moisture into the atmosphere necessary to form rain clouds, dried the soil and created a fertile environment to transform any spark into uncontrollable fires.

The governor of Corrientes (northeast), Gustavo Valdés declared the Argentine province an “ecological and environmental catastrophe zone” due to the fires that affected more than 785,000 hectares, almost 9% of its territory, and estimated this Saturday, February 19, that the losses will exceed 40,000 million pesos (374 million dollars).

“The situation is desperate,” Valdés told Radio Miter. Despite the resources deployed, he indicated that he hopes that the rain will help stop the advance of the fire: “The only thing that can balance this is climate change. It has to be nature itself, we can’t contain it.”

However, the Argentine Environment Minister, Juan Cabandié, said in a statement that the rains expected for next Monday “is a storm front that will last for a few days and it cannot be guaranteed that these conditions will extinguish the fire by full”.

Since mid-January, Corrientes has suffered a progressive increase in burned areas that has devastated native forests, cultivated forests and productive enclaves, which has killed animals —in a province that was incorporating extinct species— and generated desperation and impotence for producers. , as well as fear in the population.

Monkeys (Alouatta caraya), alligators (caiman latirostris and caiman yacare), capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris), foxes (Cerdocyon thous), river otters (Lontra longicaudis), anteaters (Myrmecophaga tridactyla), corzuelas (Mazama goauzoubira) and different species of amphibians were some of the animals that have lost their lives due to smoke poisoning, burned in the middle of the forest or grasslands, and run over on the roads trying to flee from the fire.

Others have been attacked by dogs when approaching inhabited areas, where the main activity of firefighters is concentrated, prioritizing the preservation of homes.

Experts assured that the real magnitude of the losses in biodiversity will be calculated when the fires are controlled.

“The destruction is total. While we had major fires in 2020, we have never seen anything like this. When all this happens, we will have to establish some strategy for the recovery of environments and decide where it is a priority to allocate resources,” Martín Kowalewski, director of the Corrientes Biological Station (EBCO), a research center that depends on the National University, told Mongabay Latam. of the Northeast (UNNE) and the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (Conicet).

In absolute values, the most affected vegetation covers were those of wetland environments with more than 460,000 accumulated hectares, according to INTA, among which are the estuaries and other wetlands where the affected area doubled to more than 245,110 hectares.

In cultivated forests, the burned area increased almost two and a half times, to 31,265 hectares, and in native forests it increased to 28,733 hectares, according to INTA.

According to the latest report on the evolution of the fires prepared by the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA), the area burned in Corrientes —a province that borders Paraguay, Brazil and Uruguay— reached 785,238 hectares as of February 16 last, which represents 8.8% of the province.

The rate of increase in the area affected by burning went from a trend of 20,000 hectares per day to nearly 30,000 in nine days, according to the INTA report dated February 16.

“The hardest hit are the Esteros del Iberá. What is happening is gigantic,” Valdés said.

The daily report of the National Fire Management Service specified that this Saturday 10 fires remained active and one contained in Corrientes, where 114 brigade members work with the deployment of five hydrant planes, an observer plane, three helicopters and three fire engines.

To the north of Corrientes, in the province of Misiones, six active and two contained fires are reported — where 34 brigade members work with the deployment of two fire hydrant planes and a helicopter — and further north, in the province of Formosa, another fire is registered. active.

With information from EFE.

Source-larepublica.pe