Number of fires in Brazil’s Amazon hits five-year high in August

More fires burned in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest this August than in any month in nearly five years, due to a surge in illegal deforestation.

Satellite sensors detected 33,116 fires last month, according to Brazil’s national space institute. The dry-season months of August and September usually see the highest rates of deforestation and fires.

It was also the worst August for fire in 12 years, AP News reported, including in 2019 when images of the burning rainforest shocked the world and drew criticism from European leaders.

Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro downplayed the raging fires, telling media network Globo on August 22 – the worst single day for outbreaks of fire in 15 years – that the criticism was part of an effort to undermine the nation’s agribusiness sector.

“Brazil does not deserve to be attacked in this way,” he said.

Fires in the Amazon are almost always deliberately set, primarily to improve cattle pasture or burn recently-felled trees once they are dry. Often the fires burn out of control and spread into pristine forest areas.

“The deforestation rate is very high. That means there are many fallen trees ready to burn,” said Ane Alencar, coordinator of the Mapbiomas Fire project.

“The fire season will be even more intense in September,” he told AP News.

Widespread fire means Brazil is failing to curb greenhouse gas emissions, as almost half the country’s carbon pollution comes from land conversion.

During the COP26 climate summit earlier this year, Bolsonaro’s government promised to stop all illegal deforestation by 2028. So far during his tenure, forest loss surged to a 15-year high.