00:00With the serious fires that are occurring in Colombia,
00:03There's a question we're all asking ourselves.
00:06What can we expect in the coming months?
00:08It's not an easy question to answer,
00:11But here's some information that might give us some clues about what's to come.
00:17Look at this graph for a second.
00:20It was created by the research team at MapBiomas Colombia
00:23and shows how fire has been seasonal in the country
00:27between the year 2000 and the year 2025.
00:31I know, at first it might seem a little complex,
00:34But notice that it shows something key.
00:36In which month is there usually the most fire in a region?
00:40Because if there's one thing that's clear, it's that the fire in Colombia
00:43It has a very marked seasonality.
00:46For example, in the so-called Inter-Andean Valleys,
00:49a category that includes Tolima and Cauca,
00:52The season is usually most intense in the months of July, August and September
00:57and also in January, February and March.
01:00Another example: let's look at the Orinoquía and the Amazon.
01:04The months of January, February, and March constitute the period
01:07where historically the fire season is much more intense.
01:12It is a period that also coincides with the usual dry season.
01:17This historical account is important,
01:18as the MapBiomas Colombia research team told us,
01:21because it helps to better understand the dynamics of fire in our territory
01:27and to more effectively guide management and prevention actions.
01:32But of course, it's not something that's easy,
01:35as María Mesa Elizalde, PhD in Landscape Ecology, told us
01:39and who has dedicated himself to studying the ecology of fire.
01:42In fact, one of the things that worries him most is what happens in December, January, February, and March.
01:49because in his opinion the country is not prepared to face such a tremendous challenge.
01:54Just look at these images of what happened in Chiriguaná, in Cesar.
01:58Before August 31st, it had lost 13,529 hectares.
02:02That is, almost 120 times the size of Simón Bolívar Park in Bogotá.
02:07Now, in the coming months we will have, on the one hand, a season of less rain,
02:12The vegetation will be drier and can catch fire more easily.
02:16And on the other hand, we have the El Niño phenomenon,
02:18which in Colombia means less rainfall in several regions
02:22and it will inevitably extend until February,
02:26as the World Meteorological Organization pointed out a few days ago.
02:29It's an unfortunate cocktail that needs other ingredients added.
02:33As Mesa Elizalde explains, we have increasingly degraded landscapes
02:37that have lost moisture, that are getting smaller and smaller
02:41and therefore they can burn more easily.
02:45And that is very worrying in ecosystems such as tropical rainforests,
02:49where there is little adaptation to fire.
02:51Because they are not adapted, there may be a high mortality rate among trees.
02:56decreased soil fertility and increased degradation processes.
03:00The tropical savannas in the plains are another story altogether.
03:04where there are adapted ecosystems or where, in some cases,
03:08Fire is a common disturbance.
03:11What specialists like her or her colleague Ángela Parrado are asking for,
03:15fire ecologist and professor at the District University,
03:18It is that the Colombian State has a comprehensive fire management policy,
03:23that overcomes a predominantly reactive and suppressive approach,
03:27focused on extinguishing and containing fires.
03:31One of the first steps to do this,
03:33They wrote in a column in El Espectador,
03:36It is about understanding the relationships of ecosystems with fire,
03:40from an ecological perspective,
03:42to recognize the cultural uses and meanings of fire,
03:45managing fuels and landscapes,
03:48and reduce the exposure of communities.
03:51Until that happens, we will likely continue to see images like these.
03:56Courtesy of MapBioMás Colombia.
03:59They're outrageous.
04:01This is Ortega, in Tolima.
04:03By August 31, it had lost 5,394 hectares.
04:07And this is San Luis, which lost 1,345 hectares.
04:11O Coelho, which lost 1,383 hectares.
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04:18that we are interested in doing quality environmental journalism.
04:22Bye.
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