Brazil, Venezuela, Bolivia see surging wildfire emissions: EU monitor

Wildfires in Brazil, Venezuela and Bolivia have generated the highest February carbon emissions for the countries in two decades, Europe's climate monitor said Wednesday.

Punishing drought conditions across South America have helped drive blazes that have scorched across parts of the region in recent weeks, the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) said.

The estimated wildfire carbon emissions from Brazil and Venezuela were 4.1 and 5.2 megatonnes of carbon, respectively, Copernicus said. Bolivia has also seen record high emissions at 0.3 megatonnes of carbon.

In February 2003, the estimated carbon emissions for each country were at 3.1, 4.3, and 0.08 megatonnes, respectively.

Copernicus said the peak season for wildfires in Bolivia and the Amazon region as a whole was normally expected in September and October.

"Many parts of South America have been experiencing drought conditions which has contributed to increased fire risk and resulted in the observed fires," CAMS senior scientist Mark Parrington said.

"Our atmospheric composition forecasts also show that the smoke transport is covering a large area of the region and causing increased air pollution in populated areas."

He said the organization had monitored an increase in the number of fires during the peak fire season.

Some experts have suggested the arrival of the naturally-occurring El Nino weather phenomenon was behind the historic drought in the Amazon basin last year, which stoked huge wildfires, damaged crops and shrunk key waterways.

But a study in January from scientists at the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group found that climate change caused by humanity's planet-heating carbon pollution was the main culprit.

They said it had made the drought 30 times more likely from June to November 2023.

(Cover image via CFP)