September is known as the month when forest fires in Brazil were the hottest; However, according to the latest data announced, the same is not true for September 2021. .
According to data from Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research, September 2021 saw the lowest level among September fires in Brazil’s Amazon Forest in 20 years. According to the data, the number of Amazon fires is only slightly more than half the level recorded in September last year, which means that the number of fires in the Pantanal wetlands has dropped sharply, as well as a drop in the total number of fires across the country.
Officials say it should wait at least until the end of the year before declaring deforestation has reduced.
President Jair Bolsonaro, who has promoted development in the Amazon since he took office, described the global public complaints about the destruction of the Amazon as a conspiracy to thwart agribusiness. The Bolsonaro administration has also encouraged legal measures to loosen land protections, emboldening land usurpers and leaving environmental officials quite helpless.
Recently, Balsonaro has been trying to demonstrate his commitment to the environment amid criticism from the administration of US President Joe Biden and from institutional investors who have complained about the situation. At the United Nations meeting in September, Balsonaro; He emphasized that his administration made extra efforts to warn about the reduction of Amazonian deforestation in August following the fall in July. September results will be announced next week.
Environmentalists say Balsonaro’s sudden change is highly insincere and deploying the military in the Amazon is highly ineffective for protection. Márcio Astrini, executive secretary of the Climate Observatory, a network of environmental non-profit groups, said the fire data for September were welcomed. But these low figures need to continue at least until the end of the year before declaring a trend that deforestation is declining, especially given the still high levels of deforestation, Astrini said.
“Government action on Amazon is so weak it’s hard to say even with these variations it will be sustained. Why should it continue?” “The government is not there, there is no pressure. So this depends on the will of the people who destroy forests and set fires,” Astrini continued.
August rainfall this year was above average
Early data at the start of the severe drought and wildfire season had raised great concern that this year’s fires would reach the same damage as recorded in the past two years. However, unlike the usual, the rain that fell on the Amazon in August this year was well above the average.
Ane Alencar, scientific director of the Amazon Environmental Research Institute, pointed out that despite the ongoing drought, there has been a behavioral change in the region that has caused far fewer fires than last year. Fires were down by more than two-thirds in the first nine months of 2020 after a surge in fires devastated the local tourism industry last year.
Regarding the issue, Alencar said, “Last year’s disaster helped people better organize firefighting and prevention this year.” It had an effect,” he added.
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