Amazon, for twenty years the forest has not burned like in the first six months of 2024

Satellite data released by Brazil on the Amazon indicates that almost 13,500 fires were recorded in the first half of the year.

Over the last two decades, the Amazon it never burned like it did first six months of 2024.Data relating to the Brazilian portion of the largest tropical forest of the world, located in Latin America, are disturbing:from January 1st to June 30th 13,489 fires were reported.A situation which, according to experts, is largely attributable to historic drought which is affecting the region.

Drought is primarily responsible for the high number of fires

In particular, the fires in the Pantanal, the wetland tropical which is largely found in Brazil, from the beginning of the year until June 9, the total was 935 percent higher compared to the same period of the previous year.This is, therefore, an increase of almost ten times.

“Unfortunately, most of the Brazilian natural biomes experiences water stress due to lack of precipitation – confirmed Romulo Batista, spokesperson for Greenpeace Brazil -.The territory becomes more dry and thus the vegetation is more vulnerable to the risk of fires”.But, continues the activist, “most of these are not spontaneous, or of natural origin, as in the case of flames caused by lightning impacts.Often it's about human actions”.Which do not necessarily imply voluntariness, but may have depended on the use of dangerous agricultural machinery or techniques in this situation.

In the Amazon, worse data only occurred in 2003 and 2004

Since the Brazilian Institute for Space Research (Inpe) began regularly monitoring the fires in the Amazon (i.e. since 1998), only twice the first half of the year were worse:In the 2003, when there were 17,143 fires and in 2004 (17,340).But the total observed this year is infinitely higher than that of 2023, when the satellite observations they had recorded a total of 8,344 fires.

The president Lula da Silva, since the beginning of his new mandate at the helm of Brazil, has committed himself to containing deforestation in his country, and in fact in the first six months of this year, despite the fires, the total of square kilometers deforestedin the first six months it was equal to 1,525, compared to 2,649 in the same period of 2023.A year during which there had already been a clear decline compared to the previous twelve months.

The Brazilian government's goal is to eliminate the illegal deforestation by 2030, After the Bolsonaro years during which the phenomenon had undergone a disturbing surge.