The latest on the Amazon rainforest fires in Brazil by Rafaella de Freitas
By Rafaella de Freitas
The cloud of smoke that darkened Brazil’s financial capital on Monday (19th Aug) was only picked up by the international media in the middle of the week, after Brazilians took to social media. According to the country’s space agency, the darkness was a combination of a cold front and smoke from forest fires happening in the Amazon, which have now been burning for almost three weeks. The fires – or ‘queimadas’ as they are known in the country – are a fast and cheap way of clearing land for cattle grazing and agriculture. The fires are a century-old method used by farmers and landowners, but this year has seen above average activity in the Brazilian Amazon. This year, between January and August, almost 73,000 fires have been recorded, which is almost double 2018's total of nearly 40,000 fires.
The Amazon had already made front cover in The Economist’s first August edition, titled Deathwatch for the Amazon: the threat of runaway deforestation, which predicted ‘Brazil has the power to save the Amazon – or destroy it.’ The Rainforest gained special attention in the G7 meeting, where President Macron and President Bolsonaro engaged in a twitter feud. The French leader offered £18bn to support combating the fire, and the Brazilian President, who has sent the army to the Rainforest but also claimed the country was under-resourced to deal with the situation, declined the offer and labelled it an attempt to interfere with the country’s sovereignty.
The Brazilian government and its supporters defend that queimadas happen every year, and that a lot of the data and images used by leaders on social media were inaccurate or outdated. However, budget cuts to Brazil’s Environment Agency, Ibama, a decrease in fines for illegal deforestation and Mr Bolsonaro’s decree transferring the responsibility of delimitating Indigenous land and reserves, and the Brazilian Forestry Service to the remit of the Ministry of Agriculture, indicates the government’s priorities are not environmental conservation.
Although the fate of the Amazon is tied to the country’s political agenda, there are many NGOs and grassroots movements doing amazing work with local communities. They are the following:
Brazilian Groups:
Projeto Saude & Alegria (Health and Happiness Project), works with local communities to support development, civic participation and environmental protection
Institutio Socioambiental (ISA), is a NGO which focuses on delivering integrated solutions to social and environmental problems across the country, but has a large focus on the Northern Region.
International Groups:
To donate to the WWF’s emergency appeal follow the link here.