The Brazilian Amazon faced a devastating 61% increase in wildfires in the first half of this year, marking the worst figure in two decades according to satellite data revealed on Monday. The spike is attributed to a historic drought that struck the world’s largest tropical rainforest last year.
While deforestation in the Amazon has decreased by 42%, the number of fires continues to rise, posing a challenge for President Lula da Silva’s administration. Lula has vowed to halt illegal deforestation by 2030, following a surge under his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro.
Greenpeace’s Romulo Batista points to climate change as a contributing factor to the escalating wildfires, with most being a result of human activity like agricultural burning due to dry vegetation.
Record-Breaking Fires
The Pantanal wetlands and the Cerrado savanna have also faced unprecedented wildfire outbreaks, with the Pantanal recording a 2000% increase compared to last year. The Cerrado, covering a vast expanse equivalent to several European countries combined, witnessed nearly as many fires as the Amazon.
Columns of smoke from a fire in Pantanal, Corumba, Brazil, form a curtain against the sun on Thursday. The Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul declared a state of emergency on June 24 due to out-of-control forest fires in the Pantanal, the largest wetland in the world.