The number of fires burning in Brazil’s Amazon jungle reached a 15-year high in June, despite the country’s pledge last year to stop deforestation by 2030. The burning season started last month, and the pace of clearing the forest is still rapid. Given that August and September are typically the peak fire months in Brazil, conditions could get worse this month. The largest rainforest in the world is being destroyed due to the following reasons.
What causes the fire?
In the humid, tropical Amazon jungle, fires do not normally erupt like they do in Europe or the US. Instead, to clear land, farmers clear the forests and start fires in the trees, which occasionally get out of control.
Why this time of the year?
In the Amazon, the dry season is at its most intense in August and September, making fires more difficult to put out. Relief often comes with the commencement of the rainy season in October.
Role of climate change
In the past, the virgin rainforest has remained damp all year long and resisted fires. However, rising temperatures and drier conditions brought on by climate change make it more difficult to manage fires.
Worsened since 2019
Yes. Since right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro assumed office in 2019 and pushed to remove environmental laws, forest fires have gotten worse. His administration reduced the funding for environmental organisations, curtailed their ability to fight crime, and hampered the process of issuing environmental fines. According to experts, under Bolsonaro, farmers, ranchers, and land speculators feel free to damage the forest without facing consequences.
According to Bolsonaro, mining and farming should be allowed in protected Amazonian areas in order to combat poverty. His revolutionary approach to preserving the Amazon, which involved using the military to patrol the forest, had no effect on the devastation.
Will this year be any different?
In October, Brazil will have presidential elections. Experts predict that, as it did before the past four elections, as government officials courting votes relaxed environmental regulation, forest devastation will increase before that vote. Former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a left-winger who is renowned for taking a more aggressive stance against environmental crime, is currently in the lead. According to analysts, this might encourage an increase in forest crimes as long as Bolsonaro is in power.
Vicious cycle of fire and climate change
Yes. The burning of the remaining forest vegetation causes the majority of the carbon dioxide released during the removal of old-growth trees in the Amazon, which contributes to global warming. Deforestation accounts for around 9% of human-caused CO2 emissions, therefore drastically lowering it is crucial to combating climate change, according to scientists.
According to one analysis from last year, emissions from destroying forests will account for the majority of Brazil’s 9.5% increase in greenhouse gas emissions for 2020. Brazil intends to use its forests to produce carbon offsets in order to fulfil its commitments to reduce global emissions. According to research, old-growth rainforests have a much greater capacity to store carbon than newly developed land. According to some estimates, a hectare of virgin forest contains 176 tonnes of carbon, compared to just 5 tonnes or fewer in soy fields or cow pastures, 44 tonnes in newly planted forests within ten years, and 176 tonnes in pristine forests.
(with inputs from agencies)
