Nearly 3,000 forest fires were recorded in February in the Brazilian Amazon, a record for this month of the year since records began in 1999, authorities announced on Wednesday.
According to satellite images from the Brazilian Institute for Space Research (INPE), 2,940 fires were recorded during the month, 67% more than the 1,761 fires that were recorded in February 2007, the previous record.
“Many regions of South America have experienced droughts which have contributed to an increase in fire risk, which has resulted in the fires we have observed
,” explained Mark Parrington, a scientist at the Copernicus atmosphere monitoring.