In four days of September, the Amazon already has more than 12 thousand fires. The last three days recorded, consecutively, more than 3,000 hotspots. A sequence of such high values, day after day, in September, has not happened, at least since 2007.
According to data from the Queimadas program, from Inpe (National Institute for Space Research), the first four days of the current month already represent about 72% of what was recorded in all of September 2021 — which, however, it is worth mentioning, was below the historical average for the month.
Usually, the months of August and September concentrate an expressive part of the fires in the Amazon.
Under the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government, the fires in these two months recall the situation of more than a decade ago —in 2004 the country had more than 27,000 km² of deforestation—, when deforestation levels were very high and people sought to the reversal of the destruction curve.
Several times in the last 20 years there have been consecutive days in September with more than 2,000 outbreaks. There are even days in a row with more than 4,000 fires recorded by Inpe (as occurred in 2004, 2005 and 2007, for example).
There have even been days that exceeded the barrier of 6,000 simultaneous fires in the Amazon’s September history. The record for a single day is 6,738 outbreaks of fire on September 29, 2007 — this year’s absolute record of fires in September: 73,141 outbreaks.
The analysis of Sheet it only compares the values ​​corresponding to August and part of 2002. It was in that year that new and more sensitive Inpe sensors for fires came into operation.
Fires and deforestation are generally related. Deforesters cut down the forest, let it dry, and then, in the dry Amazonian period (which includes August and September), set fire to the felled organic material to “cleanse” the land.
Since 2012, deforestation has once again pointed to growth trends, but destruction has exploded under Bolsonaro, who has been speaking out against environmental inspections since the election —Bolsonaro has already been fined for illegal fishing— and, already elected, even disallowed an ongoing combat operation. to environmental crime.
With the expressive increase in deforestation in the Amazon during the Bolsonaro government, it is not surprising that the days with thousands of simultaneous outbreaks have been recorded.
Deforestation is the main source of greenhouse gas emissions in Brazil. In order to achieve its climate target, the country necessarily needs to drastically and quickly reduce the devastation of the Amazon, in particular.
The Planeta em Transe project is supported by the Open Society Foundations.
