Wildfires in Brazilian Amazon owe their origin to illegal deforestation 

If you are someone who is concerned about climate change, you are probably worried about the back-to-back wildfires that have been raging across various continents. One of the worst affected places in the world is the Brazilian Amazon rainforest, that is suffering from the maximum number of wildfires in last five years. And guess what? They have been primarily caused by illegal deforestation. Here’s what you need to know about the Brazilian wildfires.  

Fire season in Brazil’s Amazon 
At the onset of September, satellites deployed by Brazil’s national space institute have detected as many as 3,300 wildfires in the Amazon rainforest ahead of the fire season (as it is dubbed!). And now, it turns out that this surge in the levels of wildfires is due to high levels of deforestation activity. As you can possibly guess, higher the rate of deforestation, more the number of fallen trees available for burning.  

Are you wondering what we are wondering? Who conducts these illegal deforestation activities? Well, sources reveal that they are usually initiated by groups from the agribusiness sector who try to make room for the cattle to graze in order to furthering commercial activity in the Amazon. It is also done by environmental land defenders as well as abused and suppressed indigenous groups. In fact, the fires in August this year were the worst in last 12 years. They created clouds of toxic acid smokes hovering over cities such as Manaus, for weeks at a stretch.  

Curbing illegal deforestation 
A recent report released by the Brazilian think-tank Igarape Institute revealed that little is being done to combat illegal deforestation across the Brazilian Amazon. In fact, the study found that as many as 302 environmental crime raids have been carried out by the federal police in and around the Amazon between 2016 and 2021, but only 2 per cent of those who were illegally deforesting and seizing undesignated public lands were held accountable. In fact, data suggests that this year alone, 20 per cent of Amazon’s usable forest area has been burnt down, all because of deforestation. And guess what! Most of these areas are supposed to be conserved but end up being targeted by land-grabbers, as revealed by NASA’s Global Fire Emissions Database with the help from the Brazilian non-profit organisation, Centre of Life Institute.  

Recently, deforesters gathered at the Cristalino II State Park near Mato Grosso in the heart of Amazon as soon as the state court invalidated the region’s protected status. And now, more than 40 square kilometres of this land have been consumed by flames.  

Effects of deforestation-induced wildfires 
For those unaware, the Amazon rainforest has always been deemed as a global ecosystem that plays an important role in absorbing carbon. But now, due to illegal deforestation, land conversion and raging wildfires, Amazon leads to high levels of carbon emissions, resulting in climate change. The irony is that, the current Brazilian government had promised to put an end to illegal deforestation by 2028 at the last COP26 Climate Summit, but since then, forest loss has only gone up with 2022 being the worst affected in the last 15 years.