The Minister of the Environment, Marina Silva, gave an interview to CNN this Tuesday (25) to address the serious situation of the fires affecting the Pantanal.
According to Marina, the region faces a combination of factors that resulted in one of the worst drought scenarios ever recorded, including the El Niño climate phenomenon, low rainfall and the chronic problem of deforestation.
“We have, in fact, a completely atypical situation, because we have the combination of several factors causing us to have one of the worst moments in relation to droughts in the Pantanal”, stated the minister.
Fires caused by human action
The minister stated that the fires that are ravaging the Pantanal are caused by human action, since, at this time of year, there is no incidence of lightning in the region, according to climatologists.
“The fires are happening due to human action. According to climatologists, in this period now, at this time, in the Pantanal, there is no incidence of lightning. Therefore, these are fires caused by human action,” he said.
She highlighted that the municipalities that have deforested the most are those with the highest number of fire outbreaks, citing the case of Corumbá, where deforestation increased by 52% and accounts for almost half of the fires in the Pantanal.
Marina Silva explained that the federal government has been adopting measures since October 2022 to monitor and combat fires, including the declaration of emergency in April this year. She highlighted the work of Ibama and ICMBio brigade members, in conjunction with the states of Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso.
Climate risk situation and management room
The minister also addressed the importance of the situation room set up by the government to monitor the crisis in the Pantanal and the Amazon on a daily basis. According to her, this structure will become a constant in Brazilian public management, aiming at the transition from “disaster management” to climate “risk management”.
“We have to do all the action aimed at preventing risk. And this is the plan to combat extreme weather events,” he said.
Marina Silva highlighted that President Lula is committed to supporting these emergency actions and is working to create the legal figure of the “climate emergency”, allowing early hiring and preventive actions.
“We completed the part that we were doing collaboratively – Environment, Regional Integration, Science and Technology and Cities portfolios – and handed it over to the president. He is now analyzing it for a process, which I hope will be as quick as possible. And maybe we can create this legal figure of ‘climate emergency’, so that we can start to carry out a constant process with these 1,942 vulnerable to extreme events involving more than 80 million people”, said Marina.
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(Published by Raphael Bueno, from CNN Brasil)
Source: CNN Brasil
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