The number of fires in the Amazon increased by 19.5% in June compared to the same month last year, with 2,248 fires recorded—the highest number for that month in 13 years, according to official data released on Wednesday (1).
June marks the beginning of the dry season, and these figures support analysts' predictions of a year even more devastating than 2019, when the surge in fires in the Amazon generated global concern and outrage.
The website of the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe), which allows tracking in real-time the fire alerts identified by satellite, has never recorded so many hotspots in this month of the year since 2007, when 3,519 were identified.
But the worst is expected in August: in 2019, there were more than 30,000 hotspots, three times more than in the same month of 2018.
The fires in the Amazon are mainly caused by and are directly related to deforestation for agricultural and livestock purposes.
Deforestation in Brazil has already reached alarming levels this year, with more than 2,000 km² cleared from January through May—34% more than during the same period in 2019—according to the latest data from INPE.
The Amazon Environmental Research Institute (Ipam) estimates that 9,000 km2 of forest already deforested since last year could be burned by August.
Environmentalists accuse the government of President Jair Bolsonaro of promoting deforestation in its defense of the legalization of agricultural and mining activities in protected areas.
Experts also fear that the increase in fires will lead to more respiratory problems in a population already affected by the coronavirus.
Another important problem: the authorities have fewer human and financial resources to protect the environment due to the pandemic, which has killed more than 60,000 people in Brazil.
“The fires simultaneously contribute to global climate, biodiversity, and health catastrophes in the region. Brazil will have to do more, much more, if it wants to stop this, by strengthening control agencies with permanent plans and clear objectives, rather than with one-off and costly operations,” said Rômulo Batista, Greenpeace representative in the Amazon.
SOURCE:
FIRE MAGAZINE
