Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research has detected almost 73,000 fires so far this year.
MULTIPLE BLAZES ARE burning in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, adding to a year of record fire numbers, according to the country’s space agency.
Satellite data from the National Institute for Space Research shows an 83% increase in fires this year over the same period in 2018, Reuters reported. The agency has documented more than 9,000 new forest fires mostly in the Amazon basin since Thursday and detected almost 73,000 fires so far this year, which is the highest since record-keeping began in 2013.
NASA shared photos of the fires last week. It said that blazes during the dry season typically peak in early September and stop by November. Fires can be started to maintain farmland and pastures or to clear land, according to the space agency.
Massive plumes of smoke have traveled thousands of miles and blackened the skies in São Paulo on Monday. The European Union Earth Observation Program released a map of the smoke, showing it covers nearly half the country and reaches to Atlantic coast.
The growing flames are paired with mounting anger against the country’s right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, who has been accused of opening the world’s largest rainforest to loggers and farmers.
The former leader of Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research was fired just weeks ago after getting into a fight with Bolsonaro, who questioned agency figures that showed an increase of 88% in deforestation in June compared with the same period last year.
During a Facebook Live broadcast on Wednesday, Bolsonaro suggested non-government organizations could be starting the fires.
“So, there could be … I’m not affirming it, criminal action by these ‘NGOers’ to call attention against my person, against the government of Brazil. This is the war that we are facing,” he said, without offering any evidence.
Marina Silva, a former Brazilian senator and environmental minister, took to Twitter to critique the president’s remarks. “Lack of commitment to the truth is a chronic pathology. This irresponsible attitude only aggravates the environmental emergency in Brazil,” she said.