July 26, 2021
10:07
Marcela Leiros – from Cenarium Magazine
MANAUS – The wildfires in the Amazon biome are closely related to deforestation in the region. Such that in 2020, the year in which annual deforestation reached a record since 2008, the number of fires also reached the highest level since 2010, according to the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe). There were 222,797 fires, 12% more than the 197,632 registered in the previous year. The outlook for this year is even more worrying, due to the records already reached in March, April and May.
Data released on July 1st, by Inpe, indicate that June registered the highest number of heat spots in the Amazon since 2007, in comparison with the same month of previous years. Satellites show that there were 2,308 hot spots, which represents an increase of 2.6% in relation to June 2020, when the historical record had already been broken.
For the spokesperson of Greenpeace Brazil’s Amazon campaign, Rômulo Batista, this new increase comes in the same week that the federal government decides to maintain the same plan that has unquestionably failed in the last two years: a fire moratorium and the deployment of armed forces, through the decree of a Law and Order Guarantee (GLO), to combat deforestation and wildfires in the Amazon.
“Unfortunately, this record in the month of June is not a surprise, considering the continuity of the ‘anti-environmental’ policy and the insistence on using an expensive tool, such as sending in military troops, which has shown itself to be inefficient in the last two years. In fact, it is more of a strategy for the English to see, because, besides being for a shorter period than in previous years, the decree itself already warns the deforesters and land grabbers where they are going to inspect during this period”, comments Rômulo Batista.
For the coming months, the scenario will hardly be different from that seen in the last two years. With high numbers of fires still at the beginning of the Amazon summer, months where there is a natural decrease in rainfall in the Amazon, these numbers tend to rise even more.
“We are living a very sad moment for the forest and its people. They are being attacked from all sides, either by deforesters, land grabbers, loggers, and miners who advance over the forest or territories, or by the Congress and the Executive Power that, not only do not fight these crimes and environmental damages, but encourage them, either by acts or omissions”, concludes Rômulo.
“Cleaning”
Fire is part of the process of “cleaning” the soil that has been deforested to later be used for cattle ranching or planting. As more areas are deforested to create pastures and plantations, more areas arise to burn.
“Fire has increasingly been used as a tool for forest degradation. Fire has increased a lot in degraded forest areas. When the forest is intact, it is very difficult to catch fire because it is humid and has natural barriers that favor fire not to spread”, explains biologist Rômulo Batista.
The biologist also explained that after the “first fire, about 50% of the trees in the Amazon die, after the second or third fire this number can reach 90%, almost 100%, depending on the region.
This “first fire” refers to the first damage caused by burning, a form of preparation for the next damage, or “second fire. After the first burn, trees and bushes fall to the ground and form a carpet of organic matter that is propitious for combustion. More light and wind penetrates the forest, due to the opening that the flames have caused in the tree canopy, and dries this material faster, forming the perfect condition for more outbreaks of fire to occur in the area. In the last burn, the most permanent damage to the forest already occurs.