Fires in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest reached the highest number for September in almost 15 years, according to preliminary government data released on Tuesday, after reaching similar highs in the previous two months.
A prolonged drought across much of South America linked to climate change has caused more intense fires in the Amazon this year and at times smoke has covered more than half the continent.
Satellites detected 41,463 fires in the Brazilian Amazon in September, the highest number for the month since 2010, according to data from the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe).
Fires in the first nine months of the year are also the largest for that period since 2007.
Reuters traveled on a flight to Santarém, Pará, on Monday and saw hundreds of kilometers of smoke. Pará also recorded the highest number of fire outbreaks for the month of September since 2007, according to the data.
The state is home to the mouth of the Amazon River and will also host the UN climate change summit COP30 next year.
Extremely low water levels in the Amazon basin were also clearly visible from above, with large dry stretches of sandy riverbanks.
Fires generally do not occur naturally in the Amazon, but are set by people to clear land for agriculture or livestock.
In many cases, criminals do not intend to cultivate, but rather to claim the land to sell it for a profit later, said André Guimarães, executive director of the environmental research institute Imazon.
“People are taking advantage of the fact that forests are more flammable now to burn them and then take the land later,” he said.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called the fires “criminal,” and the Federal Police said it was expanding its efforts to combat environmental crimes in the Amazon and elsewhere.
From January to August, 62,268 square kilometers were burned in the Brazilian Amazon, according to data from Inpe.
Fires typically peak in the Amazon in August and September, when the region is driest.
(*By Stefanie Eschenbacher)
This content was originally published in Fires in the Amazon rainforest increase for the 3rd month in a row on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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