Brazil is on fire.
From the Amazon rainforest to the Pantanal wetlands, flames have consumed millions of hectares of forest and farmland in recent weeks.
About two-thirds of Latin America’s largest country is smog.
Despite being fueled by a severe drought, which the government says serves as “a demonstration of the power of climate change,” many of the fires were set by “criminals,” according to environment minister Marina Silva.
Here’s what we know about Brazil’s “fire epidemic,” as Supreme Court Justice Flavio Dino described the state of affairs.
– What is the level? –
According to data collected by satellites of the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), 188,623 fires have been identified in Brazil since the beginning of the year.
Last year’s figure was 189,926.
The month of September 2024 was the worst so far, with 61,572 fires recorded in 17 days compared to 46,498 for the whole of September 2023.
The number of fires in the Amazon this month is already higher than in 2019, when the destruction of the world’s largest rainforest sparked a global outcry that put then-president Jair Bolsonaro on the back foot.
The 2024 figures are a far cry from the record 393,915 fires recorded in 2007 – more than a third in September of that year alone.
But this time, “fires are burning in several regions of the country at the same time, which makes the problem very difficult to manage,” said Ane Alencar, scientific director of the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM).
– What are the causes?
Brazil has been facing a prolonged drought since June 2023, according to Suely Araujo, public policy coordinator for Brazil’s Climate Observatory — a group of non-governmental organizations.
Whatever rain fell was “less than expected,” resulting in dry conditions that can turn a small spark into a fire.
“Climate change is playing out, along with El Nino,” said Araujo.
Alencar said that many fires were set on purpose, especially by farmers clearing land.
Farmers can obtain permission from the government for such burning, but the practice is temporarily banned because fires can easily get out of control under current conditions.
However, “it’s probably the least respected law in Brazil,” Alencar told AFP.
Another culprit is the large and powerful agricultural sector, which Alencar says has been found to have deliberately burned public forests to claim land from farmers.
The third reason is the most difficult to identify: the arsonists are the only reason to “plant chaos,” according to the head of the state police Humberto Freire.
– What is the idea?
INPE researcher, Karla Longo, said that if the fire extinguishers are not shut down, the flames will “continue until it rains.”
The drought facing Brazil is likely to last until October, he added.
“The rainy season should start in the second half of October… but it may be delayed due to extreme dryness and low air humidity,” added Ricardo de Camargo, climate professor at the University of Sao Paulo (USP) .
Leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has vowed to fight climate change and promised to end illegal deforestation in the Amazon by 2030, admitted on Tuesday that Brazil was “not 100 percent ready” to deal with the latest wave of fires as he declared. $94 million for the answer.
“The authorities should do more, at all levels,” said Araujo, who headed the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources, a government agency, from 2016 to 2019.
He called for communication between ministries, as well as between national and state governments.
Freire called for harsher punishments for “natural crimes.”
lg/tmo/mlr/sst