Fires consume Argentina's Parana River Delta

A region-wide drought is fueling an ever larger number of simultaneous fires burning in Argentina's Paraná River Delta region, affecting one of South America's largest and most important wetland ecosystems.

Firefighters contained the flames on the islands that share the provinces of Entre Ríos and Santa Fe with support of firefighting aircraft.

The fire also generated large columns of smoke that the day before spread through the cities of Rosario and San Nicolás , about 300 and 250 kilometers from Buenos Aires, respectively.

The Paraná river that feeds the wetland is drying up and reaching its lowest level in decades due to a prolonged drought in Brazil which specialists point to weather patterns, global warming, intensive agriculture and deforestation.

The Argentine Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Juan Cabandié, said on Tuesday that "as of today we have 8,600 hectares destroyed."

Cabandié noted that most of the fires were intentional and targeted farm owners seeking to renew the pasture that cattle feed on.

The minister pointed out that the situation was worse last year.

The Paraná River Delta region covers an area of approximately 17,500 square kilometers with very few inhabitants. Some 300,000 hectares were devastated by fires in 2020.