Fires in the Amazon become the largest in 20 years

Fires in the already devastated Brazilian Amazon in the first six months of 2024 have become the largest in the region in 20 years. The more than alarming data was released by INPE, the National Institute for Space Research, which monitors the Amazon and other Brazilian biomes 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 fires in the Amazon in the second year of Lula’s third term has been accompanied by an even more significant increase in fire outbreaks in the Cerrado biome bordering the Amazon and in the Pantanal, the latter with a sharp increase of 1,025% compared to last year in an area that is usually flooded in the first six months of the year. The El Niño phenomenon, which has caused a very severe and prolonged drought and an unexpected rise in temperatures across Brazil, partly explains the tragedy that is turning thousands of kilometers of forests and other green spaces into ash, but the negligence of local and regional authorities and the inaction and indifference of President Lula da Silva and the Minister of the Environment, the environmentalist Marina Silva, also bear a significant share of the blame for the devastation.