Flying over the river that winds through the heart of the Amazon rainforest, a black and white bird tries to flee a region of northern Brazil that environmentalists call “the new frontier of deforestation”.
It’s a scissor hawk (Elanoids forficatus), a bird of prey whose tail resembles that of a swallow.
The scene takes place in the Amazonian state of Rondônia, one of the most affected by forest fires. In the last 12 years, the Amazon has never burned so much in one month of August. In 2022, there was an 18% increase in fire outbreaks compared to August 2021.
The most critical area is located at the crossroads of Amazonas, Acre and Rondônia, a region almost the size of Spain known as Amacro, an acronym for these three states whose authorities launched a controversial Sustainable Development Zone project in 2021, with support from the federal government. .
For Greenpeace, the real objective of the initiative is to “encourage agricultural production” in a territory inhabited by 1.8 million people.
“It is the newest frontier of deforestation”, emphasizes Rômulo Batista, spokesman for the environmentalist association, with whom an AFP team flew over the area.
Amacro, says Batista, “concentrated 40% of hotspots from January to August” in the Brazilian Amazon.
‘Red sun’
In some places, the smoke is so dense that the pilot’s visibility is greatly reduced. The burning smell is almost unbearable.
In areas that have already been destroyed, the landscape is one of desolation: where there was once a thick green layer of vegetation, there are now huge surfaces of black or dark gray soil.
In areas that are still burning, the flames act as beacons amid clouds of smoke generated by fires that burn a few meters apart. At night, seen from above, these hotspots look like small erupting volcanoes.
For the inhabitants of Porto Velho, capital of the state of Rondônia, this month of August was particularly difficult.
“I have the impression that it is three times worse than last year. It mistreats people, especially children with respiratory problems,” Francisco Alan Ferreira da Silva, a 33-year-old driver, told AFP.
“It’s horrible, the morning is extremely cloudy, the sun is very red and it’s very hot. When you open the window, you see soot entering the room,” said Joyce Milena, a 24-year-old administrative assistant.
Deforestation and forest fires have increased sharply under the current government. Since Bolsonaro took office in January 2019, average annual deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has increased by 75% over the previous decade.
The president, who will seek re-election in October, rejects the criticism, arguing that Brazil “preserves its forests much better than Europe”, alluding to the fires that devastated France and Spain this summer.
