An alarming paradox defines the global fire landscape. The State of Wildfires 2024–2025 report, published in Earth System Science Data (ESSD), indicates that while the global burned area was 9% below average, carbon emissions from fire were 9% higher (2.2 Pg C), the 6th highest since 2003. This impact is not only climatic. The Amazon emerges as one of the main drivers of these emissions, signaling fires of greater intensity and severity in recent years. In Brazil, fire emissions were approximately 50% above average.
But as the climate crisis amplifies the risk of fires, investment in local protection is increasingly key to resilience. The report states that in the Amazon Northeast, climate change has made extreme fire weather 30 to 70 times more likely. In South America, humid, dry and savanna forests suffered severe anomalies, exposing communities to dangerous levels of PM2.5, particulate matter in the atmosphere. The data confirm that Rondônia is inserted in this high-risk landscape, vulnerable to prolonged droughts and human ignitions.
The Strategy: People and Technology in the Territory
Often, the discussion of protection focuses only on metrics, such as monitored hectares or satellite alerts. The work at RESEX Rio Cautário relies on this technology, but its true impact goes much further. To be effective, climate action must generate clear results for the 92 families (315 people) living in the territory of this extractive reserve. Protection only works when it directly benefits those on the front line. This is what the nature conservation project in the Rio Cautário RESEX, a partnership between its 7 communities and Permian Brasil, has been ensuring for the last 5 years.
The strength of this project lies precisely in the union of two fronts: Participatory Community Management and State-of-the-Art Technology. In practice, this means that the protection plan is ‘alive’ and updated annually together with the community. In 2024, we will have near-real-time monitoring (OroraTech), drones with thermal sensors, and mobile connectivity (Starlink) to ensure agile communication between the situation room and the project teams in the field. In addition, we have “SMART Conservation Tools” to monitor, analyze and manage the area; Through it, we standardized the collection of data in the field, which then serves to prepare maps, reports, and operational decisions based on data. Through it, we collect biodiversity data, wildlife signs, georeferenced occurrences and threats, in addition to documenting regions monitored on patrol.
The effectiveness of this entire system is based on two fronts. The first is training, with the training of community firefighters and protection agents. The second is institutional cooperation, through data sharing with ICMBio, IBAMA, the Environmental Police Battalion, partner NGOs and the Rondônia Fire Department.
The Results: Proven Resilience
Weather conditions are volatile, and fire records change every year. But the value of an engaged, trained, and equipped community is not volatile; It is solid and long-lasting. In 2024, the year with the highest number of fire outbreaks ever recorded in the region, the Rio Cautário RESEX reached zero fire outbreaks in its 146,400 hectares. This success is repeated in 2025, which also remains without fire records.
Figure 1. (Left) Heat Outbreak in 2024 in the region of the Rio Cautário Forest Conservation project. Source: NASA FIRMS
Figure 2. (Right) Heat Outbreak in 2025 in the region of the Rio Cautário Forest Conservation project. Source: NASA FIRMS
The results in the territory go far beyond carbon metrics
In 2024, for example, the operational effort of monitoring can also be seen in the distances traveled by different modes: 2,037.14 km on foot, 8,510.22 km by boat, 54,900.68 km by car and 5,276.82 km by motorcycle. During the same period, we reopened 26 km of firebreaks, provided emergency support to neighboring indigenous lands, and received official recognition from the Environmental Police Battalion for its contribution and effective partnership against fires in the region.
In 2025, territorial monitoring covered: 754.47 km on foot, 8,313.62 km by boat, 24,762.23 km by car and 1,124.24 km by motorcycle. Additionally, in 2025, we will open 19 km of new firebreaks to prevent the spread of any fires.
The team of environmental defense agents trained by the project to combat hot spots and prevent fires has 4 teams and continuous rotation for full-time protection of the RESEX, with a total of 20 community members hired, also ensuring the safety of all communities.
In the Nature Conservation Project in the Rio Cautário RESEX (know more), our philosophy is that every investment should, at the same time, return value to people and to the forest. It is this integrated vision of climate, technology, and communities that points the way to a resilient future.
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