Fires in the Amazon become the largest in 20 years

Fires in the already devastated Brazilian Amazon in the first six months of 2024 were the largest in the region in 20 years. The data, which is more than alarming, was published by INPE, the National Institute of Space Research, which monitors the Amazon and other biomes of Brazil in real time.

DFrom January 1 to June 23, INPE recorded an impressive 12,696 fires in the Amazon, the highest number of incidents of this type since 2004. Compared to the same period last year, 2023, the increase in fire outbreaks in the Brazilian Amazon region was a significant 76%, after a decline in the previous two years.

In INPE’s historical series of Amazon monitoring, only 2003, the first year of Lula da Silva’s first term, and 2004 confirmed more fires than have been confirmed so far this year. In 2003, the worst year on record, there were 14,667 fires, and in 2004, the second worst year, there were 14,481 fires.

The sharp increase in the number of fires in the Amazon in the second year of Lula’s third term is accompanied by an even greater increase in fire outbreaks in the Cerrado biome bordering the Amazon and in the Pantanal, in the latter case with a sharp increase in the number of fires. a 1,025% increase in fires compared to last year in an area that typically floods in the first six months of the year. The El Niño phenomenon, which caused a very severe and prolonged drought and an unexpected rise in temperatures throughout Brazil, partly explains the tragedy that turned thousands of kilometers of forests and other green spaces into ashes, but the negligence of local authorities and regions and the inaction and indifference of President Lula da Silva and the Minister environmentalist Marina Silva also bears a significant share of the blame for this devastation.