The number of wildfires in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest increased 28 percent in July from a year earlier. That reports The National Insitutute for Space Research, a Brazilian government agency.
The institute monitors Brazil and registered 6,803 forest fires in the Amazon rainforest in July, the highest number of fires in three years for the month of July. In July 2019, 5,318 wildfires were observed, an increase of 28 percent.
Experts are concerned about the increase as August is usually the beginning of the period when there are many wildfires. They fear that Brazil will be hit just as hard this month as it was in August 2019 when 30,900 wildfires, the highest in twelve years before August, were registered by the institute.
The experts blame the Brazilian government in part for the forest fires, because not enough would be done against the plans of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who wants to deforest parts of the Amazon to boost the economy. In addition, it is exceptionally dry in the area this year.
In mid-July, the government imposed a temporary ban on deforestation in certain areas, but the expert says this approach is not effective. “We can conclude from the data until the end of July that government actions to prevent forest fires and deforestation have little effect,” said Carlos Nobre, a scientist at the University of São Paulo.
Forest fires usually occur in the Amazon in July and August, as this marks the start of the drier period in the area.
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