VIDEO. Brazil's Amazon rainforest suffers its worst fires in August since 2010

“More than 31,000 fires have been recorded in the Amazon,” warns Vinicius Silgueiro, forest engineer at the Life Center Institute.

Brazil had not seen so many fires in the Amazon rainforest in August since 2010. The number of fires has already increased by 12.3% compared to August 2021 and about 20% compared to the average for this month in the INPE data series since 1998.

The period from August to September is historically the mainland country's fire season.

The situation is worse than in August 2019, when images of spectacular forest fires had nevertheless gone around the world.

For the record, the Amazon rainforest is crucial in the fight against climate change.

This disaster comes one month before the presidential elections in Brazil.

The two main candidates are very opposed on the question of the Amazon.

On one side, the favorite, former president Lula da Silva who promised to protect the forest.

And on the other, the very controversial current president, Jair Bolsonaro, who gave carte blanche to deforestation during his mandate.

According to a study, deforestation in Brazil totaled in 2022 an area equivalent to fifty times the city of Paris.

A sad fact that has reached a record level for fifteen years.