The Brazilian Amazon recorded 5,373 wildfires in July, up 7.9% from 4,977 in the same month last year, according to data released this Monday, signaling the worsening of one of the biggest threats to the world’s largest plant life. lung. local government.
The number of heat sources in Brazil’s part of the world’s largest rainforest has more than doubled from 2,562 recorded in June, according to the alert system of the state National Institute for Space Research (INPE).
It was the largest number of forest fires in brazilian amazon for the month of July 2020, when at the height of the crisis that caused a global reaction, 6803 fires were recorded.
The number of fires accumulated in the first seven months of the year jumped 13%, from 11,364 in 2021 to 12,906 in 2022, according to INPE.
Since the truce in 2021, when heat sources in the Amazon fell by 37% compared to 2020, the data of recent months has reactivated alarms to tighten control and avoid another disaster in the jungle.
Greenpeace Statement
environmental organization Greenpeace condemned that most of the human-caused fires reported in July were illegal, as a government decree has been in effect in Brazil since last June banning farmers from using fire to clear crops, as in Amazon like the Pantanal.
For Greenpeace, data from July indicates things could get worse as the month is just the start of the Amazonian summer and the region’s worst drought.
“We are at the beginning of the season with less rainfall and humidity in a region where, unfortunately, the practice of wildfires usually jumps, either to burn recently devastated areas or to burn forest residues that have already been degraded by illegal logging,” a Greenpeace spokesman said. Brazil by Amazon Romulo Batista.
“All these destructions and fires, in addition to destroying the forest and its rich biodiversity, also affect the health of the local population due to the smoke and soot they produce,” the activist added.
The role of Jair Bolsonaro
For Greenpeace, the intensification of the fires is a reflection of the actions and inactions of far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro’s government and current legislators who, in protecting the interests of farmers and ranchers, are helping to dismantle the environmental and social policies that Brazil implemented from the 1988 Constitution.
The far-right leader, who is seeking re-election in October for a new four-year term, defends the economic exploitation of the Amazon and an end to the demarcation of new indigenous reserves.
His anti-environmental policies, which raise questions around the world, are one of the main reasons for criticism from opposition candidates, mainly from former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is named by polls as the main favorite in the elections. (EFE)
Source: RPP
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