By Jake Spring
Dry weather this year raises the risk of severe fires in Brazil's Amazon rainforest and Pantanal wetlands, scientists say, warning that a drought could fuel destruction of biomes critical to curbing climate change.
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This year's rainy season - running roughly from November to April - was even drier in parts of the Amazon under greatest threat, known as the "arc of deforestation," INPE data show.
This year's drought in the Pantanal is more severe and widespread than what the region saw in 2020, the data show.
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Climate change is likely one of several factors affecting weather, along with Amazon deforestation shifting regional rain patterns and existing long-term cycles in weather.
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