More fires burned in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest this August than in any month in nearly five years, thanks to a surge in illegal deforestation.
National space research agency INPE registered 31,513 fire alerts in the Amazon via satellite in the first 30 days of the month, making it the worst August since 2010, when fires totaled 45,018 for the full month.
This includes August of 2019, the Associated Press points out, when images of the burning rainforest shocked the world and drew criticism from European leaders. Jair Bolsonaro had recently taken office and was turning environmental enforcement on its head, saying criminals should not be fined and promising development of the Amazon.
Brazil’s NPE says most fire alerts come during August and September, considered the burning season in the region when rains often subside to let ranchers and farmers often set fire to deforested areas.
Fires in August 2022 are already 12.3 percent higher than fires in 2021, and about 20 percent higher for the month in the INPE data series since 1998, reports Reuters.
Of course, this uptick comes ahead of the October presidential election with leading candidates sharply at odds over the destruction of the Amazon rainforest.
It also comes along with a new report from the NPE that estimates that the Brazilian Amazon has lost 1,450 square miles of jungle since the start of 2022.
The frontrunner, leftist former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has vowed tougher protection of the Amazon and blasted right-wing incumbent Jair Bolsonaro for letting deforestation of the biome hit a 15-year high.
The far-right president continues to downplay the evidence of the raging fires across the rainforest, telling media network Globo on August 22 — the worst single day for outbreaks of fire in 15 years — that the criticism is part of an effort to undermine the nation’s agribusiness sector.
“Brazil does not deserve to be attacked in this way,” said Bolsonaro, who is campaigning for reelection.
