Brazil Burning: More than 100,000 Fires in 2024

In Brazil, 109,943 fires have been recorded since the beginning of 2024. It’s not the worst figure ever, as in 2010 there were 127,145 over the same eight months of the year, according to a report by Italian news agency ANSA, citing data from the Brazilian Institute for Space Research (INPE), but in any case, it’s clearly a worrying figure: an increase of 76% compared to 2023.

The situation is critical in different states: São Paulo has the worst situation in terms of fires since 1998, the year the research began. Local authorities have declared a state of emergency in 34 cities in the region’s northwest, where sugarcane plantations, typical of the area, are burning.

Severe damage was done to Pantanal, one of the most important protected areas in the world, known for being a wetland for several months of the year, hosting important ecosystems, and is now on fire. The same concerns the Amazon. The heat and drought affecting large areas of Brazil are accounted for, but most of the fires are believed to be arson. In particular, Brazil’s Environment Minister Marina Silva commented that the fact that so many fires broke out simultaneously in remote locations suggests that they were set deliberately.

A Brazilian Supreme Court judge has ordered the Lula government to deploy as many military and police forces as possible to put out the fires; but according to Rodrigo Agostinho, president of the Brazilian Institute of Environment in Mato Grosso, Para and Amazonas, the situation will remain critical until October.

However, the good news comes from INPE, which is not about fires, but about deforestation in the Amazon. Between August 2023 and July 2024, the rate dropped 45.7%, the best result since the survey series began in 2016.

amazon, brazil, fires, ecology