Why Everything They Say About The Amazon...is Wrong

What increased by 7% in 2019 are the fires of dry scrub and trees cut down for cattle ranching as a strategy to gain ownership of land.

Between January 1 and August 14 of this year, the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) identified 32,728 outbreaks in the Amazon region. One factor that could potentially explain this marked increase would be an intense drought as recorded in 2016. However, this hypothesis must be rejected: despite being the dry season, moisture levels in the Amazon are currently above average compared to the last three years.

If the dry season does not explain the current fires, the only other plausible explanation is that deforestation is fanning the flames. Fire is commonly used to clear the terrain after forests are felled. An analysis of current hotspots and the logging record produced by the Deforestation Alert System (SAD) suggests that this is indeed the case.

“There are no natural fires in the Amazon. There are, however, people who light fires, which can worsen and turn into wildfires during the dry season,” explains IPAM Science Director Ane Alencar, one of the authors of the memo. “Even in a less severe drought than in 2016, when we suffered from a very strong El Niño effect, the risk of fires growing out of control is high.”

The smoke, for its part, creates other problems in the region. Those who live nearby then suffer from respiratory issues, which burdens the public health system. This has an impact on the economy as well when employees can no longer work. In Acre state, which the memo highlights as an example, satellites have already recorded 1,790 hot spots this year, 57% more than in 2018 and 23% more than in 2016. Cities in Acre state have seen levels of particulate matter much greater than what the World Health Organization considers to be safe.

“The consequences for the population are immense. Air pollution makes people sick, and the economic impact can be high,” according to IPAM senior researcher Paulo Moutinho. “Combating deforestation, which drives the fires, and discouraging the use of fire to clear land are critical to ensuring the health of both people and the forests.”

Data released in June by the federal government regarding deforestation in the Cerrado show that between 2016 and 2017, Brazil’s second largest biome lost 14,185 square kilometers of native vegetation, or 6,777 km2 in the first year and 7,408 km2 in the second.

The number was celebrated by the federal government as positive, as the rate fell in relation to 2015, when 11,881 km2 were deforested. However, accumulated deforestation in the Cerrado is equivalent to that of the Amazon in 2016 and 2017, when 14,840 km2 were deforested. Considering that the Cerrado area is half the Amazon and has 49.9% remaining landscape, while the Amazon has 85%, the savannah is consolidated as the most threatened biome in Brazil today.

This deforestation equals the emission of 440 million tons of CO2 equivalent, in a conservative estimate. “Although we are within the national goal of reducing deforestation in the Cerrado, which by the way is a high goal, we need to take it down even more if we want the Cerrado fulfilling its role,” says IPAM’s Director of Science, Ane Alencar. “When we think about the challenges we face regarding greenhouse control, the loss of biodiversity and environmental services that the Cerrado provides, and the impact on traditional populations that depend on these resources, deforestation of this size has a very high cost to Brazil.”