The first outbreaks were detected in February 2020, and new ones keep emerging until August 2020 at least.[2][3][4] Previously, this same area had suffered the
2008 Delta del Paraná wildfires.
As of August 2020, 90,000 hectares (220,000 acres) had burned, in over 8,000 detected fires.[5][6][7][8] A 10 million
pesos (US$137,934) daily cost was estimated.[9]
Context
During the first months of 2020, the
Río de la Plata river basin received an unusually low amount of rain, including the
Iguazú and
Paraguay rivers. This even caused the
Iguazú Falls to dry for a time, what created a diplomatic conflict between Argentina and
Brazil, over the several
dams the country operates in the northern area of the basin. Brazil ultimately decided to open the open the
floodgates of the dam for 12 days on 18 May 2020.[10][11][12][13]
This
drought, which conjugated with the
La Niña phenomenon, brought an historical low for the Paraná river level (the lowest level in 51 years).[14][15][16] Every
watercourse in the De la Plata river basin registered very low levels and droughts, caused by rainfall anomalies in the northern area of the basin.[14]
This low water level caused several problems, including trouble for big
ships to navigate and export the
harvest,
water intakes in several cities unable to soak any water, and a big
fish mortality.[15][17][12] It also made several environment-harming activities easier, such as
illegal fishing and hunting, activities which in some cases involve engaging in illegal fires as well.[1][18][19]
But mainly, this lack of rainfalls caused a drought in the Delta del Paraná, and a lack of
moisture in its abundant available plant
biomass that stimulates the start and fast expansion of fires.[20]
Causes
During the summer, it was thought that the fires could be caused by people putting out
cigarettes or leaving
bonfires lit while on the Delta del Paraná islands, as well as by
cattleranchers trying to gain terrain.[21][22][1]
Meanwhile, during 2020 farmers and ranchers in Argentina were subject of several kinds of
sabotages, including
silobolsas[23] being shattered and fields set into fire.[24] The agricultural sector pointed that the fires were a consequence of the higher amount of public visiting the islands (both tourists and
poachers), the high number of available plant biomass, and even some political intentionality, linked to the sabotaged suffered by them during the year. Also, ranchers explained that it would be of no use for them to set their ranches on fire (which account for about 20 or 30% of the islands area, the rest being public lands), since
soybean prices didn't make farming on the Delta attractive, and the fires damage the land for its use for
livestockgrazing.[25][26]
On the other hand, several
Environmental organizations pointed that the fires were started by ranchers to renew graze, as they do every year, but with the difference that in 2020 the drought made those fires bigger and easier to grow, which caused the shift so rapidly.[27] The
government credited this theory, blaming the fires on ranchers.[28][29][30]