Record wildfires ravage Peru’s ecosystems and wildlife

A record number of fires tore through Peru over the past few weeks, wreaking havoc across the country's ecosystems as grasslands, dry forests, coastal areas and the Amazon were set ablaze.

In northern Peru, spectacled bears fled burning dry forests to nearby towns, where some were shot by frightened residents. Jaguars in the southern Amazon, with nowhere to flee, were left charred in trees. Grasslands and wetlands that play a key role in storing water were left in ashes.

“The rainforest is usually impervious to fire,” said Paul Rosolie, a conservationist and founder of JungleKeepers, an NGO that patrols and preserves the Amazon in Peru, adding they've seen burnt turtles, snakes, birds and jaguars after recent patrols.

“The forest is their world, so when you burn it they die.”

The Global Wildfire Information System, which tracks wildfires by satellite, shows about 10,400 fires in Peru in 2024, more than double the previous record in 2020 and nearly 2.5 times the total area burnt.

Record fires have been recorded across South America this year, with Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay registering the largest numbers.

“This year there's been more regions, more ecosystems, and more species affected,” said Luis Zari, a legal specialist for the Peruvian Society of Environmental Law, adding human and environmental factors led to such widespread fires.

Aside from less rainfall and higher temperatures after the end of the El Nino weather phenomenon, Zari said a failed government response and human-started fires led to widespread destruction.

Peru's President Dina Boluarte acknowledged the country lacked logistics to fight the fires when she declared a state of emergency in September.

“There's nothing in Peru. That's the problem, there's no help,” said Robyn Appleton, founder of Spectacled Bear Conservation (SBC), an NGO that protects the bears in Peru's northern dry forests.

Alexander Moore, executive director of the SBC, said the bears have adapted to the drier climate and are able to go months without water, unlike other spectacled bears across the Andes. With only a few hundred bears in the population, Moore said conserving every one is essential to the ecosystem.

“Fragmentation and loss of habitat is the biggest threat to the bears,” Moore said, adding the SBC works with local communities to educate, incentivise conservation and help fight fires.

He said modifications to a forestry law in January make it easier to use forested land for agriculture by removing some environmental requirements and emboldened local farmers to burn more land, a sentiment echoed by Rosolie and Zari.

“We're afraid and that's why we're trying to do everything we can to work with the community to deal with this because it isn't going to stop,” Moore said, adding if governments promote land use and business over environmental regulations that fight climate change, extreme weather will continue to devastate.

Reuters