Wildfires are raging across the Pantanal tropical wetlands in southern Brazil, one of the most biodiversity areas in the world and a major tourist destination, regional authorities said on Thursday.
California's governor declared a state-wide emergency on Sunday as a huge wind-fuelled blaze forced evacuations and massive power blackouts, threatening tourist towns in the state's famed Sonoma wine region.
About 50,000 people were ordered to flee their homes north of Los Angeles on Thursday as a fast-moving wildfire driven by high winds erupted and raged out of control. The so-called Tick Fire near Santa Clarita, about 55km north of Los Angeles, broke out in the early afternoon and quickly consumed 5,000 acres, fire officials said.
Heavy rain that has drenched eastern Bolivia's Chiquitania tropical savanna has put out fires that have ravaged millions of hectares in recent months, authorities said on Sunday.
More than two million wild animals, including jaguars, pumas and llamas, have perished in weeks of wildfires that devastated huge swathes of Bolivian forest and grassland, environmental experts said on Wednesday. The fires devastated the Chiquitania tropical savanna in the east of the country.
In the tropical Bolivian city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, a wealthy farming hub on the edge on the Amazon rainforest, President Evo Morales gathered with ranchers late last month to celebrate a maiden shipment of beef to China.