More than 60 thousand hectares of forests burned in recent months

The environmental foundation Greenpeace prepared a report highlighting that between October 2025 and March 2026, more than 60 thousand hectares of the Andean Patagonian Forests, in southern Argentina, were burned. The devastated territory is equivalent to 3 cities in Buenos Aires, doubles the fires of the 24-25 season - 31,722 hectares were lost - and multiplies by ten the average of the years 2022, 2023 and 2024. Of the 60,845 hectares devoured by fire in total during the period surveyed, 60,304 correspond to the province of Chubut, which suffered the last major fires. The figure is completed by Santa Cruz with 290 hectares consumed, Neuquén with 238 and Río Negro which only regretted 13 hectares devastated. According to the environmental organization, this unfortunate statistic was reached due to the severity of the forest fires in the Los Alerces National Park (Chubut), in El Turbio (Chubut) and in the Los Glaciares National Park (Santa Cruz) that devastated large areas of protected forests in a very good state of conservation; and the one that occurred in Puerto Patriada, El Hoyo and Epuyén (Chubut), which affected plantations, forests and homes. Between the crisis and the lack of prevention In the Greenpeace document, it explains that the scientific consensus has been warning about the climate crisis in which we find ourselves, which aggravates the droughts and causes an increase in forest fires and demands that the national and provincial governments stop denying or underestimating this situation and must considerably increase the number of brigade members and infrastructure for early combat. to fire.In addition, they highlight the importance of prevention, among the tasks to be improved by the States, because 95% of fires are started by human causes - campfires, poorly extinguished cigarettes, abandonment of land, preparation of grazing areas with fire--. Environmentalists also added that it is important to move forward with a plan to eradicate exotic pines, mainly from municipalities and protected areas, which increase the risk of fires and harm the recovery of burned forests. However, the national government of Javier Milei formalized an adjustment of 2,500 million pesos for conservation programs and administration of protected areas of National Parks. Some of the most affected are the Nahuel Huapi National Park (will lose 190 million pesos), Lanín (156 million), Los Glaciares (77 million) and Los Alerces (70 million). These territories devastated by fire are fundamental for our country. People lived in many of them, they are important places for indigenous and peasant communities, they provide food, wood and medicine and have a natural landscape value that generates a notable tourist attraction. They are also one of the best preserved ecosystems nationwide, although year after year it is more damaged. For this reason, plant structure and natural habitats are lost, biodiversity is reduced, the soil is degraded, it erodes and loses its capacity to store water and prevent flooding. The coordinator of the Greenpeace Forests campaign, Hernán Giardini, clarified that the latest statistics are not a coincidence because we were coming from a season that had been really critical and severe but this one doubled the previous one. A few years ago the average was 5 or 6 thousand hectares burned, so the season that passed was 10 times more than normal. Furthermore, the expert warns that these catastrophes occur because the seasons of high temperatures coincide with those of severe drought, which causes fires, while in the previous winter months there was little precipitation and little snowfall. There were alerts from academic sectors, from ourselves, and even from organizations linked to the issue of forests in the provinces. They prepared despite the current cut for a season that was expected to be complicated, Giardini added. The environmentalist also questioned the lack of preparation of the libertarian national government, which he characterized as a denier of the climate crisis, to face this situation, since it planned "significant cuts in fire management areas, and the provincial forest areas received less money with regard to the Forest Law. National park workers warned that they had only 400 brigade members for 5 million hectares, where 700 are needed." Very little work is done on prevention, very little in education, very little in information for tourism and locals regarding the use of fire in the forests. Much more control of activities in the forests was necessary, Giardini stressed. The head of Greenpeace Forests hopes that next summer will not be as catastrophic as the last two, but his hope is only related to the climatic phenomenon of El Niño (which in the north and center of Argentina brings rain and even floods). Giardini considered some points prior to the next hot season and wished for the eradication of exotic pines favorable to the spread of fire and the incorporation of criminal offenses in the actions of forests, whether when a fire is intentional, in a clearing or deforestation. He also recognized that the legislative attempts to punish the destruction of forests did not become law and regretted that it was not only due to the pro-government legislators, but that there are some allies who came to their positions as legislators with other positions. The forest expert assured that there are fires of natural origin, such as those caused by electrical storms with their lightning, which he warns were not common and are now a little more frequent, but he made a diagnosis in another direction: there is a level of negligence, and that is where education and control of the area is important to that barbecues and bonfires are in designated places and that fires are put out properly, he summarized.