The Brazilian Amazon is recognized worldwide for its biodiversity and it plays a key role in maintaining the regional and global climate balance. However, it has recently been greatly impacted by changes in land use, such as replacing native forests with agricultural activities. These changes have resulted in serious environmental consequences, including significant alterations to climate and hydrological cycles. This study aims to analyze changes in land use and land covered in the Brazilian Amazon between 2001 and 2023, as well as the resulting effects on precipitation variability, land surface temperature, and evapotranspiration. Data obtained via remote sensing and processed on the Google Earth Engine platform were used, including MODIS, CHIRPS, Hansen products. The results revealed significant changes: forest formation decreased by 8.55%, while agricultural land increased by 575%. Between 2016 and 2023, accumulated deforestation reached 242,689 km². Precipitation decreased, reaching minimums of 772.7 mm in 2015 and 726.4 mm in 2020. Evapotranspiration was concentrated between 941 and 1360 mm in 2020, and surface temperatures ranged between 30 °C and 34 °C in 2015, 2020, and 2023. We conclude that anthropogenic transformations in the Brazilian Amazon directly impact vegetation cover and the regional climate. Therefore, conservation and monitoring measures are essential for mitigating these effects.

Diagnosing climate variability and environmental change in floodable regions is essential for understanding and mitigating impacts on natural ecosystems. Our objective was to characterize environmental degradation in the Brazilian Pantanal by identifying changes in vegetation and water cover over a 30-year period using remote sensing techniques. We evaluated surface physical–hydric parameters, including Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) maps, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Modified Normalized Difference Water Index (MNDWI), Normalized Difference Moisture Index (NDMI), and precipitation data. There was a decrease in the area of water bodies (−9.9%), wetlands (−5.7%), and forest formation (−3.0%), accompanied by an increase in the area of pastureland (7.4%). The NDVI showed significant changes in vegetation cover (−0.69 to 0.81), while the MNDWI showed a decrease in water surface areas (−0.73 to 0.93) and the NDMI showed a continuous decrease in vegetation moisture (−0.53 to 1). Precipitation also decreased over the years, reaching a minimum of 595 mm. Vegetation indices and land use maps revealed significant changes in vegetation and loss of water bodies in the Pantanal, reinforcing the need for sustainable management, recovery of degraded areas, and promotion of ecotourism to balance environmental conservation and local development.

Wildfires have intensified in several regions worldwide, and the Brazilian Pantanal has become increasingly vulnerable due to the combined effects of human activities and climate change. This study analyzed the spatiotemporal patterns of burned areas and burn severity in the Brazilian Pantanal over 39 years (1985–2023), integrating burned-area dynamics, land use and land cover information, and hydroclimatic variables. Burned areas were quantified using MapBiomas Fire Project data, including annual burned areas, affected land use and land cover classes, seasonal fire distribution, fire-scar size, and fire recurrence. Burn severity was assessed using the Differenced Normalized Burn Ratio (ΔNBR), and hydroclimatic trends were evaluated using the Mann–Kendall test. The largest burned areas occurred in 1999 (27,260.65 km²) and 2020 (25,602.65 km²), with grassland representing the most affected land use and land cover class throughout the historical series. Fires were concentrated during the late dry season, and recurrent burning was more evident in the southwestern Pantanal and in smaller northern areas. The 2020 fire season showed the greatest extent of high-, moderate–high-, and moderate–low-severity classes. Wildfire occurrence, recurrence, extent, and severity were associated with hydroclimatic variability, especially reduced precipitation and relative humidity and increased air and land surface temperatures. These findings provide a long-term basis for understanding changes in fire regimes in the Brazilian Pantanal and can support fire management, ecological restoration, biodiversity conservation, and climate adaptation strategies.