The data is the fastest indicator of the state of fires in the region
Sao Paulo:
The number of fires in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest rose in August to the highest level since 2010, government data showed on Sunday, after a record drought ravaged the biome.
Last year’s rains came late and were weaker than normal as a weather pattern known as El Nino was strengthened by climate change, making the rainforest particularly vulnerable to the fires this year.
Satellites detected 38,266 hot spots in the Amazon in August, more than double the previous year and the largest number for that month since 2010, according to data from Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (Inpe).
August data reaches a 14-year high after fires in the region rose to a 20-year high last month.
While the data is the fastest indicator of the state of the region’s fires, which often peak between August and September, it does not indicate intensity.
Fires in the naturally wet and humid biome often start on cattle ranches where locals convert the jungle into pastures for ranching.
Warmer air and drier vegetation have created conditions where fires can spread more quickly and burn more intensely and for longer. Deforestation has also reduced the rainforest’s ability to produce rain and humidity.
Helga Correa, a conservation specialist at WWF-Brasil, said last week in an initial assessment of August data that the fires were caused by a combination of weather, climate change and human activity.
“The region where we detected concentrated smoke in August coincides with the so-called Arc of Deforestation, which includes northern Rondonia, southern Amazonas and southwestern Para,” she said.
“This indicates that, in addition to climate change and El Nino, land use changes caused by humans play a central role in the increase in fires,” she said.
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