Data from MapBiomas' Fire Monitor shows that wildfires increased by 7% in the Amazon and by 3,372% in the Pampa during the first seven months of the year.

Brazil burns in both the North and the South of its territory. MapBiomas data shows that 2,932,972 hectares were consumed by wildfires in the first seven months of the year. Although larger than the state of Alagoas, this area is 2% smaller than the one consumed by fire last year. However, in the Amazon and the Pampa, the situation is different: these are the only biomes with an increase in the area affected by fire. In the Amazon, fires affected an area of 1,479,739 hectares, while in the Pampa, 28,610 hectares were burned between January and July 2022. During this period, there was a 7% increase (or more than 107,000 hectares) in the Amazon and a 3,372% increase in the Pampa (27,780 ha).

These data are part of the new version of the Fire Monitor, which MapBiomas launched this Thursday (18) on its platform. It will start using images from the European satellite Sentinel 2, which has two important characteristics for this type of mapping: it passes over the same point every five days, increasing the possibility of observing wildfires and forest fires; in addition, it has a spatial resolution of 10 meters. This adds about 20% more to the burned area compared to the data from MapBiomas Fire Collection 1, which provides annual fire history since 1985. It also allows the data to be released monthly from now on.

>> Access the Fire Monitor

The MapBiomas Fire Monitor differs from and complements INPE's monitoring because it assesses fire scars, not heat spots. The reason is simple: heat spot data represent the occurrence of fire (and potentially contribute to its control) but do not allow for the evaluation of the burned area. The Fire Monitor, on the other hand, reveals in near-real-time (with a one-month difference) the location and extent of the burned areas, making it easier to account for the destruction indicated by the heat spots on the INPE platform.

"This product is the only one at this frequency and resolution to provide this data monthly, which will greatly facilitate fire prevention and control by indicating areas where fires have intensified," explains Ane Alencar, coordinator of the MapBiomas Fire Monitor. "In addition to the government, it is a tool of great utility for the private sector, such as the insurance industry, for example," she adds.


The data from the first seven months of 2022 show that three out of four hectares burned were of native vegetation, with the majority in natural grasslands. However, one-fifth of all that was burned during the period was in forests. Half of the fire scars are located in the Amazon biome, where 16% of the burned area corresponded to forest fires, meaning forest areas that should not have burned.

Mato Grosso was the state with the highest number of wildfires in the first seven months of 2022 (771,827 hectares), followed by Tocantins (593,888 hectares), and Roraima (529,404 hectares). These three states accounted for 64% of the affected burned area during the period.

In the Cerrado, the burned area between January and July 2022 (1,250,373 hectares) was 9% smaller than in the same period last year, but 5% higher than that recorded in 2019 and 39% larger than in 2020. The same pattern was identified in the Atlantic Forest, where there was a 16% decrease compared to 2021 (or 14,281 hectares), but an increase of 11% compared to 2019 and 8% compared to 2020. The Pantanal, on the other hand, presented the smallest burned area in the last four years (75,999 hectares), with a 19% reduction from 2022 to 2021 in the area burned from January to July.

Among the types of agricultural land use affected by fire, pastures stood out with 14% of the burned area in the first seven months of 2022.

The first and second positions on the list of municipalities that burned the most between January and July 2022 are occupied by Normandia and Pacaraima, both in Roraima. In July 2022, the municipalities of Formosa do Araguaia and Lagoa da Confusão, in Tocantins, had the highest burned area. The latter includes part of the Araguaia National Park. 

Watch the launch event of the Fire Monitor