Traditional Pantanal communities have a way of life integrated with the contrasts of the Pantanal’s water cycles and diverse environments, involved by environmental, cultural, social and traditional knowledge, use and management of the natural resources of this ecosystem.
These communities differ according to their characteristics and location, as family farmers, extractivists, fishers and ranch workers, are organized in the Network of Traditional Pantanal Communities across the states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, totaling more than 80 traditional communities.
In 2020, the Pantanal suffered severe wildfires which, according to a technical note from ALARMES, the Burned Area Alert System with Satellite-based Estimated Monitoring from LASA/UFRJ (Laboratory of Environmental Satellite Applications at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro), consumed nearly 30% of the biome and directly affected the territories of traditional Pantanal communities. This scenario tends to repeat annually.
Traditional communities, whose livelihoods are rooted in well-being in the Pantanal, were directly impacted by high levels of forest devastation, loss of cultivated areas and water quality decline, resulting in losses in food production and food security.