Biologist Gabriela Schuck was in isolation at her home in Porto Alegre, in Brazil’s South, protecting herself from the coronavirus. While she worked on her master’s dissertation, the 25-year-old kept up with the news on television and social media about the spread of forest fires ravaging three of Brazil’s largest biomes: the Amazon, Cerrado, and Pantanal. The latter is in an increasingly critical situation: the world’s biggest wetland has seen around 20 percent of its area destroyed by blazes.
Though she lives over 2,000 kilometers from the Pantanal, Ms. Schuck began seeking out institutions and offering her...