The Brazilian Amazon recorded 8,977 fires between January and April, the worst number for the first four months since 2016, according to data released this Wednesday by the Government. This figure represents an increase of 151% compared to the first four months of 2023, according to satellite data collected by the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe, by its acronym in Portuguese).
In April, 1,117 were registered fire spotswhich represents an increase of 45% compared to the figure for the same month last year.
51.3% of the fires recorded last April were concentrated in the state of Roraima, bordering Venezuelaand 28.1% in Mato Grosso, a thriving agricultural region in the south of the Amazon jungle.
Of the firesat least 67 have originated in indigenous territories, most of them in the Yanomami and Raposa Tierra do Sol lands, both located in Roraima.
The beginning of the year is generally the time of year with the least fires in the Amazonbecause it is the season with the most abundant rainfall.
But this year, according to authorities, rains have been lower than expected in several areas of the jungle due to the El Niño weather phenomenon.
The fires have destroyed 2.6 million hectares in the Brazilian Amazon between January and March, according to the most recent calculations from the Mapbiomas platform, a network made up of dozens of universities, NGOs and technologywhich monitor deforestation in the different ecosystems of South America.
This destroyed area represents an increase of 254% compared to the first quarter of the previous year, according to Mapbiomas data.
In the first three months of the year, the Amazon jungle controlled by Brazil lost 492 square kilometers of vegetation, which represents a decrease of 41.8% compared to the same period of the previous year, according to official data.
One of the main environmental promises of the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is to completely stop deforestation of the Amazon until 2030.
Source: Gestion
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