These trees have stood tall for 2,600 years. Now, they're burning

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🗞️ Driving the news: Severe wildfires are ravaging Argentina’s Patagonia, burning more than 45,000 hectares of forest, including parts of Los Alerces National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site home to trees over 2,600 years old
• Firefighters say years of budget cuts under President Javier Milei have left them overstretched, underpaid, and ill-equipped as the crisis escalates

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: These fires are both a symptom and accelerator of climate change
• Rising temperatures and prolonged droughts have increased fire risk, while the blazes themselves release large amounts of greenhouse gases, destroy carbon-absorbing forests, degrade soils, and reduce ecosystems’ ability to regulate heat and water
• The loss of ancient forests weakens long-term carbon sinks, worsening a dangerous feedback loop of warming and wildfire

⏭️ What’s next: With most of Argentina’s fire season still ahead, experts warn that prevention, monitoring, and climate adaptation must be urgently restored
• Without sustained investment in forest management and firefighting capacity, Patagonia faces recurring ecological damage that could take centuries to reverse

💬 One quote: “Fires are not something you only fight once they exist… All the prevention work that’s so important year-round has essentially been abandoned.” — Andrés Nápoli, Environment and Natural Resources Foundation (FARN)

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