A fire pandemia in the Amazon affects much of Brazil: what is happening?

2024-09-23 -

? A historical drought feeds the spotlights that do not give truce. The smoke reaches the south of the country. ? Intentional foci, climate change and little preparation for disaster

? Brazil burns. And not only in the Amazon. Almost two thirds of the territory of the largest country in Latin America are affected by the smoke produced by forest fires out of series. work of criminals, said the Minister of Environment, Marina Silva. The governors of the affected areas look 188,623 fire spotlights in Brazil. The figure already reaches almost the total of last year (189,926). Fires since the beginning of the month is already significantly higher than that of all September 2019 (31,412 compared to 19,925), when the fires in the largest tropical jungle of the planet caused worldwide indignation and put the then defensive the then president of the ultra-right Jair Bolsonaro (2019- 2022) ? The figures of 2024 are still far from the 2007 record (393,915 spotlights throughout the year, with a monthly peak of 141,220 in September). But this time, the fires occur almost at the same time in several regions of Brazil, which makes it difficult to approach the problem, Ane Alencar, scientific director of the Environmental Research Institute of the Amazon (IPAM), explains to the AFP. and intentional fire influences climate change, conjugated with the El Niño phenomenon. This favors that the country lives a period of prolonged drought since June last year, explains Suely Araujo, public policy coordinator of the Climate Observatory, a network of non -governmental organizations. In these extreme drought conditions, so that a Fire spread is enough a spark, but that spark is turned on by a human being, says Ancar. Therefore, most of these fires have a criminal origin. One of the most common cases is that of farmers who use burns for Clean pastures. Informally, this traditional practice is only allowed to authorize the State in which the lands are. The current crisis led to its absolute prohibition throughout the country. It is probably the least respected law in Brazil, Ancar laments. With the drought, a fire that should be limited escapes the control of the farmer that caused it, with catastrophic consequences. Another scenario, according to experts, is that some large fires are initiated by actors within the powerful agro -industrial sector to burn public forests and appropriate the land transforming them into pastures. Finally, a more difficult profile to specify: the individual who, by motivations Still to determine, seek sow chaos, according to the director of the Federal Police in charge of the Environment, Humberto Freire. Some people use fire as a weapon, committing crimes to appropriate land or to get attention, summarizes Ancar.The Marina Silva Minister, on the other hand, denounces the climate terrorism of criminals that take advantage of climate change to cause fires for their own benefit.