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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Harriet Barber in Corumbá

Devastation as world’s biggest wetland burns: ‘those that cannot run don’t stand a chance’

Black smoke darkens a red sky above a body of water against a black tree line
‘Nature is raising a flag’: more than 760,000 hectares have burned in the Pantanal already this year. Photograph: Harriet Barber

Perched atop blackened trees, howler monkeys survey the ashes around them. A flock of rheas treads, disoriented, in search of water. The skeletons of alligators lie lifeless and charred.

The Pantanal, the world’s largest wetland and one of the most biodiverse places on Earth, is on fire. Huge stretches of land resemble the aftermath of a battle, with thick green shrubbery now a carpet of white ash, and chunks of debris falling from the sky.

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