Amazon Rain Forest Wildfire: A New Beginning

According to the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE) report, amazon rain forest wildfire detected 72,843 fires this year.  This record increases up to 83% compared to the 2018 record and it holds the highest number since the agency starting to track fire records up to date.

Amazon Rain Forest Wildfire

Based on the alleged report, the incumbent President of Brazil, Jair Balsonaro opposed to the protection of the Amazon Rain Forest and approved the development plan in the area. Amazon rain forest is home of the 3 million species of plants and animal. This act as the Earth’s Lungs.

President Jair Balsonaro reverses the effort of the previous government to protect the Amazon rain forest and enforce the environmental regulation law.

“Over the past decade, previous governments had managed to reduce deforestation with action by federal agencies and a system of fines. But Mr. Bolsonaro and his ministers have criticized the penalties and overseen a fall in confiscations of timber and convictions for environmental crimes,” the BBC reports.

“Last month, the far-right president accused Inpe’s director of lying about the scale of deforestation in the Amazon and trying to undermine the government. It came after Inpe published data showing an 88 percent increase in deforestation there in June compared to the same month a year ago.”  The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has reported an overall fire activity in the Amazon basin has been slightly below average.

As reported in Reuter, “Since Thursday, INPE said satellite images spotted 9,507 new forest fires in the country, mostly in the Amazon basin, home to the world’s largest tropical forest seen as vital to countering global warming,”. “Wildfires have increased in Mato Grosso and Para, two states where Brazil’s agricultural frontier has pushed into the Amazon basin and spurred deforestation. Wildfires are common in the dry season, but are also deliberately set by farmers illegally deforesting land for cattle ranching.”

“I used to be called Captain Chainsaw. Now I am Nero, setting the Amazon aflame,” he said. Bolsonaro denied the accusation and point the issue to farmers who usually open fires to clear their farmland.

More News report here.