Brazil’s Pantanal Wetland Is Burning Out Of Control

News: Pantanal Wetland is currently suffering its worst fires in more than two decades with nearly 12% of its vegetation reportedly already lost.

Facts:

  • Pantanal Wetland: It is a natural region encompassing the world’s largest tropical wetland area and the world’s largest flooded grasslands. 
  • Location: It is located mostly within Brazil but it extends into portions of Bolivia and Paraguay. 
  • Significance: 
    • In 2000, part of this ecoregion, the ‘Pantanal Conservation Area’ representing 1.3% of the Brazilian Pantanal was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
    • In the same year, a part of Pantanal Wetland was named as UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.The Pantanal Biosphere Reserve is home to a diversity of flora and fauna that is particularly valuable containing at least 4,700 described species.