# Plateau Loses 6.7M Hectares of Vegetation

> Brazil's Pantanal plateau lost 6.7 million hectares of vegetation from 1987 to 2025, shrinking flooded areas by 53%.
- Title: Plateau Loses 6.7M Hectares of Vegetation · Agência Brasil
- Summary: Brazil's Pantanal plateau lost 6.7 million hectares of vegetation from 1987 to 2025, shrinking flooded areas by 53%.
- Keywords: pantanal, vegetation, brazil, biomes, mapbiomas, land cover, Agência Brasil
- Source: Agência Brasil — https://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/en/meio-ambiente/noticia/2026-11/plateau-feeds-brazils-pantanal-loses-67m-hectares-vegetation
- Published: 2026-11-09T19:36:00+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: pantanal, vegetation, brazil, biomes, mapbiomas, land cover, news
## Plateau Vegetation Loss
The Upper Paraguay Basin plateau lost 6.7 million hectares of native vegetation from 1987 to 2025.
## Water Surface Reduction
The basin's water surface area decreased by 2.89 million hectares from 1985 to 2025.
## Flooded Area Decline
The Pantanal's average flooded area shrank by 53% over four decades, from 5.99 million to 2.79 million hectares.
## Flood Duration Shift
Flooded areas for six months or more dropped from 3.8 million hectares in 1988 to 820,000 hectares in 2025.
## Rainfall Decline
Rainfall was below average for seven consecutive years from 2019 to 2025, with 1,050 millimeters in 2024.
## Vegetation Conversion
Natural areas covered 85% of the basin in 1985, dropping to 60% by 2025 with 6.9 million hectares of pasture expansion.
## Fire Impact
Fire affected 61% of the Pantanal's territory at least once from 1985 to 2025, equivalent to 9 million hectares.
## Key takeaway

Brazil's Pantanal plateau lost 6.7 million hectares of vegetation from 1987 to 2025, reducing flooded areas by 53%.