Despite some scattered thunderstorms over the weekend, the amazon rainforest is still
on fire.
The fires were believed to have been started by humans, farmers, cattle ranchers, who use
fire as the traditional way to clear land for their livestock and crops.
So what makes this year so different?
Why are these fires so out of control?
I’m going to break it down for you, right now on IO.
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I’m charlotte dobre.
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Fires in the amazon right around this part of the summer are not uncommon.
This time of the year is when farmers burn land, its not out of the ordinary because
the vegetation is dry.
Farmers wait for the dry season to come around, then they start burning and clearing areas
so their cattle can graze.
The messed up thing is, July and august are not even the peak dry seasons.
The peak of dry season is in September, so the worst might be yet to come.
As the summer progresses into autumn, the land gets drier, and much more vulnerable
to fires.
Experts say that the destruction caused by fires this year is unprecedented.
Its really hard to stop human caused fires.
Fires are the traditional way for farmers to clean agricultural land and grazing land.
That’s according to Lincoln Muniz Alves, researcher at INPE’s Earth System Science
center.
Environmentalists blame the president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro.
When he was campaigning for office, he made promises to help brazils economy by exploring
the amazon’s economic potential.
Bolsonaro is pro business.
He’s made budget cuts to the environmental enforcement agency, amounting to 23 million
dollars.
According to official data sent to CNN by Observatorio do clima, the environmental agency’s
operations have gone down since Bolsonaro was elected president.
He has also decreased the fines for environmental crimes.
To top everything off, the director of INPE was fired after he had an argument with Bolsonaro.
The fight was reportedly over satellite data that showed deforestation was 88 percent higher
in june of 2019 than june of 2018.
Bolsonaro accused the director of lying.
Environmental organizations say that he relaxed the countries regulations and he encouraged
ranchers, loggers and farmers to burn the rainforest and not hold back.
According to Amazon Watch, farmers in brazil actually held a coordinated ‘fire day’
to burn agricultural land, and they were inspired by president bolsonaro.
When he was responding to critics, bolsonaro said that the reason why the fires started
was because of non-profit organizations who are suffering from lack of funding.
He said I quote, they started the fires to generate negative attention against me and
against the Brazilian government.
But as much as he wants to deny his involvement, brazillians are suffering.
August fires in the state of Rondonoia have resulted in flight cancellations and the amount
of people admitted to hospitals over respiratory illnesses have tripled.
Bolsonaro has gone on national television to say that he loves and respects the amazon,
and that he was sending an army in to help deal with the fires.
Still, world leaders are rallying to try and save the rainforest.
Thousands of Brazillian protesters are gathering across the country.
They want the environmental minister to resign, and they some want to boycott brazillian meat.