Worries Grow as Brazil's Forest Fire Season Starts

 

A continuing lack of rain in parts of Brazil has officials and experts concerned that forest fires will again be a problem this year.

In Brazil, forest fire season is coming. The government space agency uses satellites to observe fires. It reported recently that more areas burned in July of this year than in any July since 2016.

Most Brazilian fires are caused by humans. They are often started by companies or people claiming land as their own. They burn down and clear trees to raise cattle or grow crops.

Historical records show that fires usually start increasing in June and reach their highest numbers in September. Fires can easily get out of control during the dry season, burning large areas of forest.

Forest loss a concern

Brazil is home to the Amazon, the world's largest rainforest. It also is home to wetlands known as the Pantanal, also the world's largest wetlands. Both had many fires in 2019 and 2020 that caused the most forest loss in years. That led to criticism of the administration of President Jair Bolsonaro. He has repeatedly called for development in the Amazon.

This year, the Cerrado savanna¹ is having more fires than usual. The grassland² stretches across the central and western part of Brazil. A large area is said to have burned there in the first seven months of the year.

Ane Alencar is science director at the Amazon Environmental Research Institute. During an online meeting on July 27, she said there have been fewer Amazon fires this year because of cool weather. But she is afraid of what will happen when the weather changes. "I'm not sure that the people who cut down the forest will not light it," she said.

Brazil is also experiencing its most severe drought in 90 years. Officials announced on July 22 that a large group of experts will study fires in the Amazon, Pantanal and Cerrado and how to prevent them. The group includes about 6,000 federal and state police, firefighters, state public security and environmental officials.

On June 29, Bolsonaro ordered redeployment of soldiers to the Amazon to combat fires and deforestation. He also issued a 120-day ban on unauthorized outdoor fires.

Similar measures in earlier years did not prevent illegal fires. More than 90 percent of the Pantanal hot spots found in 2020 came after a similar presidential ban. That information comes from Vinícius Silgueiro, an expert at the Center of Life Institute in Mato Grosso state. "The sense of impunity⁴ is very high. Enforcement is well below what is necessary," Silgueiro said.

Mauren Lazzaretti is Mato Grosso's environment secretary. She said the federal and state governments last year began working together to make sure no areas were left at risk.

The state is also buying a helicopter and plans to deploy³ airplanes to drop fire-fighting chemicals. Pantanal farmers and businesses will loan the planes.

Last year, over four million hectares of the Pantanal burned. That is about 27 percent of the area and the most since official record-keeping began in 2003. Although the Pantanal regrows quickly, fires often kill local wildlife, like jaguars⁵ and caimans.

The size of the fires last year brought attention to the idea of individual responsibility, Lazzaretti said. There is more involvement this year from cities, farmers and native communities, she added.

The year before, fires in the Amazon led several European governments to openly criticize Bolsonaro's administration. Bolsonaro reacted by saying the fires were about the same as the average for several years and were down sharply from 15 years before.

Carbon storage decreasing

Plant life in the Amazon rainforest takes about 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide out of the Earth's atmosphere each year. Human activity around the world is estimated to produce 40 billion tons yearly.

That makes the Amazon an important part of the world's effort to fight climate change. But a study led by a Brazilian ministry⁶ and published in July discovered something else. It found that the southeastern Amazon rainforest, heavily affected⁷ by logging, has been releasing more carbon than it stored.

Paulo Artaxo is professor of environmental physics at the University of São Paulo in Brazil. He is also a member of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Artaxo said other recent studies have shown that areas in the western Amazon are now carbon neutral. A few years ago, scientists said it was a place that stored carbon.

Carlos Nobre is a climate scientist. He said Brazil's thick forest will stop being wet enough to remain in its current form. It will begin to become grassland.

Nobre said Bolsonaro's administration still has not done enough to save the rainforest.

He said the federal government continues to do nothing about illegal logging, deforestation and fires in the Amazon. He added, that those who do the crimes "continue to feel rather empowered."

Words in This Story

cattle –n. farm animals including cows, bulls and steers⁸

savanna –n. a large flat area of grass with very few trees largely in Africa and South America

unauthorized –adj. done without official or legal permission

impunity –n. freedom from punishment, harm, or loss

logging –n. cutting down trees for wood

carbon neutral –adj. having or resulting in no loss or gain of carbon especially of carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere

1 savanna   

n.大草原

参考例句：

• The savanna is also the home of meat-eaters--the lion,leopard,and hyena who feed on the grasseaters.大草原也是食肉动物的家乡--狮子、豹、鬣狗--它们都是以草食动物维持生命的。
• They sped upon velvet wheels across an exhilarant savanna.他们的马车轻捷地穿过一片令人赏心悦目的大草原。

2 grassland   

n.牧场，草地，草原

参考例句：

• There is a reach of grassland in the distance.远处是连绵一片的草原。
• The snowstorm swept the vast expanse of grassland.暴风雪袭击了辽阔的草原。

3 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。

4 impunity   

n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除

参考例句：

• You will not escape with impunity.你不可能逃脱惩罚。
• The impunity what compulsory insurance sets does not include escapement.交强险规定的免责范围不包括逃逸。

5 jaguars   

n.（中、南美洲的）美洲虎( jaguar的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Jaguars are largely nocturnal creatures. 美洲虎基本上是夜行动物。 来自辞典例句
• Jaguars (Panthera onca) once ranged from southern South America to theUnited States. 美洲虎曾经分布在北美洲南部和美洲南部。 来自互联网

6 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

7 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

8 steers   

n.阉公牛，肉用公牛( steer的名词复数 )v.驾驶( steer的第三人称单数 )；操纵；控制；引导

参考例句：

• This car steers easily. 这部车子易于驾驶。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Good fodder fleshed the steers up. 优质饲料使菜牛长肉。 来自辞典例句