The largest floodplain on the planet is increasingly dry. A study released this week shows that the Pantanal lost around 80% of its surface water between 1985 and 2023. The area occupied by surface water in the biome fell from 19,700 km2 to just 3,800 km2.
Pantanal has lost 80% of its surface water in the last 40 years
The largest floodplain on the planet is increasingly dry. A study released this week shows that the Pantanal lost around 80% of its surface water between 1985 and 2023. The area occupied by surface water in the biome...
The study was published by researchers from the Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) in the journal Advances in Space Research. The research used satellite images and precipitation data over a 38-year interval to map the spatio-temporal variation in surface water coverage in the Pantanal.
Using four methods of identifying water surfaces using remote sensing, the researchers identified a reduction in the wetland surface occupied by water between 70% and 81%, depending on the method used. Evidence indicates the impact of an increasingly irregular rainfall regime, with an increasing frequency of droughts, which harms soil moisture.
"The rains in the Pantanal are very irregular. Sometimes it rains well, but the rainy season is decreasing. In a week it rains 300 millimeters, which was supposed to rain in a month. The days of rain are decreasing and the days of drought are increasing", explains forestry engineer Sérvio Túlio Pereira Justino, one of the authors of the study, n'((o)) eco.
For Justino, the current situation in the drier Pantanal is the result of a combination of climate change and human actions, such as changes in soil cover, the installation of dams, deforestation and the advancement of agricultural activities, highlights the Jornal da UNESP. “An area that would previously have been flooded is now a pasture area”, says the specialist.
This reduction in surface water in the Pantanal has direct negative impacts on the biodiversity of the biome, one of the richest in the country. "If the reduction of surface water affects the fish, it will affect the animals that feed on the fish. The jaguar is an animal that needs water to hunt and feed. The reduction of this area with water also reduces its habitat", details Justino.
In addition to the effects on nature, the drier Pantanal also harms the communities that live in the region, especially indigenous and riverside communities. “The people who live there will probably not be able to continue occupying that space because they will no longer have sources of income.”
The data corroborates a recent analysis by MapBiomas which indicated that, in 2025, the water surface in the Pantanal remained 56% below the average observed in the previous 30 years.
Exame and VEJA also reflected on the study.
Source: ClimaInfo
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