A record number of the largest number of flames recorded in the last decade is devastating the Amazonian forests. In the first ten days of August alone, 10,136 fire points were identified across the Amazon biome, 17% more than the 8,669 points recorded last year on the same date, according to a Greenpeace report.
Between August 2019 and July 2020 alone, 9,205 km² were deforested, the equivalent of nearly 1.2 million football fields. The Greenpeace report shows an even more catastrophic scenario for this summer due to drought, pandemics and the fact that the government "turns a blind eye" to deforestation. A triple threat that could lead to the strongest fire season of the past decade.
“The fire season started early and with worrying intensity in the Amazon, with the worst start to the season in August in a decade. Protected areas in particular have seen a dramatic increase in fires over the past ten days, ”the report said.
Besides the ecological impact of these fires, there are the consequences for the health of Brazilians, since the smoke can travel long distances. Last year they darkened the city of São Paulo for a day. A cord that would suffocate the health system even more, which is facing the Covid-19 crisis, with more than 100,000 deaths.
"This story about the Amazon burning in fire is a lie"
The report released on Thursday says that despite climate change, there is a government that, since taking office in 2019, has tried to minimize the impacts of deforestation in the planet's most important oxygen producing area.
In July, the Brazilian president bowed to the pressure and banned the burning of stubble and created the National Council of the Amazon, headed by its vice-president, former soldier Hamilton Mourão. However, Greenpeace Brazil reports that “only 5%” of farms involved in the 2019 fires were fined.
In the meantime, the Brazilian leader, who participated last Tuesday in the II presidential summit for the Amazon, held virtually and called on by Colombian leaders to take stock of the progress of the Leticia pact, declared that “this story on the 'Amazon burning in fire is a lie' which he will fight with numbers.
Newsletter My Earth
Every week, the environmental news seen by Le ParisienI'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to enable you to receive our news and commercial offers. Learn more
Bolsonaro also said that the largest rainforest in the world "does not burn" because "it preserves itself thanks to the characteristics of its vegetation, like the rainforest", and that the "unfair" criticism falls because Brazil is a " agro-industrial power ”. However, since becoming president, deforestation in the country's Amazon rainforest has skyrocketed.