Quennie M. Bruno AB SOC. SCI.

4-A International Relations and Politics

MWF 7:30 - 8:30 am

Amazon Rainforest Fires: Here’s

What’s Really Happening
How widespread are the fires in the Amazon?

The number of fires identified by satellite images in the Amazon so far this month is the
highest since 2010, according to Brazil’s National Institute of Space Research agency, which
tracks deforestation and forest fires using satellite images.

The number of fires identified by the agency in the Amazon region so far this year, 40,341, is
about 35 percent higher than the average for the first eight months of each year since 2010.

The decade before that included several years in which the number of fires
identified during the first eight months was far higher.
How did the fires start?

Natural fires in the Amazon are rare, and the majority of these fires were set by farmers
preparing Amazon-adjacent farmland for next year’s crops and pasture.

Much of the land that is burning was not old-growth rain forest, but land that had already
been cleared of trees and set for agricultural use.
How unusual are the fires? How dangerous are they to the rain forest?
INPE’s figures represent a 79 percent increase in fires from the same period in 2018. There
have been large numbers of fires in other recent years as well: According to a manager of
Global Forest Watch, the number of fires in the Amazon this year is roughly comparable to
2016.
Deforestation more broadly is always a cause for concern. Last year, the world lost about 30
million acres of tree cover, including 8.9 million acres of primary rain forest, an area the size
of Belgium, according to data from the University of Maryland.
The destruction of the Amazon rain forest in Brazil has increased rapidly since the nation’s
new far-right president took over and his government scaled back efforts to fight illegal
logging, ranching and mining.

While campaigning for president last year, Mr. Bolsonaro declared that Brazil’s vast
protected lands were an obstacle to economic growth and promised to open them up to
commercial exploitation.

Less than a year into his term, that is already happening.

Brazil’s part of the Amazon lost more than 1,330 square miles of forest cover in the first half
of 2019, a 39 percent increase over the same period last year, according to the government
agency that tracks deforestation.
The Amazon is often referred to as Earth’s “lungs,” because its vast forests release oxygen
and store carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping gas that is a major cause of global warming. If
enough rain forest is lost and can’t be restored, the area will become savanna, which doesn’t
store as much carbon, meaning a reduction in the planet’s “lung capacity.”

Did climate change cause these fires, and how will they affect climate change?

These fires were not caused by climate change. They were, by and large, set by humans.
However, climate change can make fires worse. Fires can burn hotter and spread more
quickly under warmer and drier conditions.

When it comes to the future of climate change, widespread fires contribute a dual negative
effect. Trees are valuable because they can store carbon dioxide, and that storage capacity is
lost when trees burn. Burning trees also pumps more carbon into the atmosphere.
How does deforestation work? Is this different?

Deforestation can be caused by natural factors, like insects or blight, or by humans. This is a
typical case of human deforestation: Farmers cut down trees to plant or expand a farm, then
burn the leavings to clear the ground.

Brazil had previously tried to portray itself as a leader in protecting the Amazon and fighting
global warming. From 2004 to 2012, the country created new conservation areas, increased
monitoring and took away government credits from rural producers who were caught razing
protected areas. This brought deforestation to the lowest level since record-keeping began.

But as the economy plunged into a recession in 2014, the country became
more reliant on the agricultural commodities it produces — beef and soy,
which are drivers of deforestation — and on the powerful rural lobby.
Land clearing, much of it illegal, began to tick upward again.
Are the fires the fault of President Jair Bolsonaro?

There is evidence that farmers feel more emboldened to burn land following the election of
Mr. Bolsonaro.

A New York Times analysis of public records found that enforcement actions intended to
discourage illegal deforestation, such as fines or seizure of equipment, by Brazil’s main
environmental agency fell by 20 percent during the first six months of this year.

Mr. Bolsonaro blames nongovernmental organizations for the fires. He has cited no evidence,
and environmental experts dispute the claim.

What is Brazil’s government doing to fight the fires?

Some local governments have said they are shoring up their fire brigades. On Thursday, Mr.
Bolsonaro said the Brazilian government lacked the resources to fight the fires, but on Friday
he said he would direct the military to enforce environmental laws and to help contain the
fires.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/23/world/americas/amazon-fire-brazil-bolsonaro.html
The Amazon in Brazil is on fire - how
bad is it?

Thousands of fires are ravaging the Amazon rainforest in Brazil - the most intense blazes for
almost a decade.
The northern states of Roraima, Acre, Rondônia and Amazonas have been particularly badly
affected.
Huge fires have also been burning across the border in Bolivia, devastating swaths of the
country's tropical forest and savannah.
So what's happening exactly and how bad are the fires?
There have been a lot of fires this year

Brazil - home to more than half the Amazon rainforest - has seen a high number of fires in
2019, Brazilian space agency data suggests.
The National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) says its satellite data shows an 76%
increase on the same period in 2018.

The official figures show more than 87,000 forest fires were recorded in Brazil in the first
eight months of the year - the highest number since 2010. That compares with 49,000 in the
same period in 2018.
Nasa, which provides Inpe with its active fire data, confirmed recordings from its satellite
sensors also indicated 2019 had been the most active year for almost a decade.
However, 2019 is not the worst year in recent history. Brazil experienced more fire activity in
the 2000s - with 2005 seeing more than 142,000 fires in the first eight months of the year.

Forest fires are common in the Amazon during the dry season, which runs from July to
October. They can be caused by naturally occurring events, such as lightning strikes, but
this year most are believed to have been started by farmers and loggers clearing land for
crops or grazing.

There had been a noticeable increase in large, intense, and persistent fires along major
roads in the central Brazilian Amazon, said Douglas Morton, head of the Biospheric
Sciences Laboratory at Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center.

The timing and location of the fires were more consistent with land clearing than with
regional drought, he added.

Activists say the anti-environment rhetoric of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has encouraged such
tree-clearing activities since he came into power in January.

In response to criticism at home and abroad, Mr Bolsonaro announced he was banning setting fires
to clear land for 60 days.

The president has also accepted an offer of four planes to fight the fires from the Chilean
government and has deployed 44,000 soldiers to seven states to combat the fires.

However, he has refused a G7 offer of $22m (£18m) following a dispute with French President
Emmanuel Macron.
What about Bolivia's fires?
Amazon fires a global crisis, says Macron
'Football pitch' of Amazon forest lost every minute

The north of Brazil has been badly affected

Most of the worst-affected regions are in the north of the country.

Roraima, Acre, Rondônia and Amazonas all saw a large percentage increase in fires when compared
with the average across the last four years (2015-2018).
Roraima saw a 141% increase, Acre 138%, Rondônia 115% and Amazonas 81%. Mato Grosso do Sul,
further south, saw a 114% increase.

Amazonas, the largest state in Brazil, has declared a state of emergency.

Brazil fires prompt 'prayers' for Amazon rainforest
Brazil's Bolsonaro dismisses deforestation data as 'lies'
Deliberate deforestation?

The recent increase in the number of fires in the Amazon is directly related to intentional
deforestation and not the result of an extremely dry season, according to the Amazon
Environmental Research Institute (Ipam).

Ipam's director Ane Alencar said fires were often used as a way of clearing land for cattle ranches
after deforesting operations.

"They cut the trees, leave the wood to dry and later put fire to it, so that the ashes can fertilise the
soil," she told the Mongabay website.

Image copyrightPLANET LABS INC

While the exact scale of deforestation in the rainforest will only be certain when 2019 figures are
published at the end of the year, preliminary data suggests there has been a significant rise already
this year.

Monthly data shows the scale of the areas cleared has been creeping up since January, but with a
spike in July this year - almost 278% higher than in July 2018, according to Inpe.

Inpe tracks suspected deforestation in real-time using satellite data, sending out alerts to flag areas
that may have been cleared.

More than 10,000 alerts were sent out in July alone.

The record number of fires also coincides with a sharp drop in fines being handed out for
environmental violations, BBC analysis has found.

The fires are emitting large amounts of smoke and carbon

Plumes of smoke from the fires have spread across the Amazon region and beyond.

According to the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (Cams), a part of the European Union's
Earth observation programme, the smoke has been travelling as far as the Atlantic coast.
The fires have been releasing a large amount of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of 228 megatonnes
so far this year, according to Cams, the highest since 2010.

They are also emitting carbon monoxide - a gas released when wood is burned and does not have
much access to oxygen.

Maps from Cams show this carbon monoxide - a pollutant that is toxic at high levels - being carried
beyond South America's coastlines.
The Amazon basin - home to about three million species of plants and animals, and one million
indigenous people - is crucial to regulating global warming, with its forests absorbing millions of
tonnes of carbon every year.

But when trees are cut or burned, the carbon they are storing is released into the atmosphere and
the rainforest's capacity to absorb carbon is reduced.
How is the Amazon helping to limit global warming?

There were more fires in the mid-2000s

While the number of fires in Brazil is at its highest level for almost a decade, the data suggests that
Brazil - and the wider Amazon region - has experienced more intense burning in the past.

An analysis of Nasa satellite data this month indicated that the total fire activity in 2019 across the
Amazon, not just Brazil, is close to the average when compared with a longer 15 year period.

Figures from Brazil's Inpe, dating back to 1998, also show the country suffered worse periods of fire
activity in the 2000s.

Reports in mid-August, including on the BBC, had said there were a record number of fires in Brazil
this year. Inpe has since made more data easily accessible, showing how far back its records
stretched. We have now amended our reports to reflect this information.

Inpe's historic figures are backed by numbers from Cams, which show total CO2 equivalent
emissions - used to measure of the amount and intensity of fire activity - were also higher in Brazil
the mid-2000s.

Other countries have also been affected

A number of other countries in the Amazon basin - an area spanning 7.4m sq km (2.9m sq miles) -
have also seen a high number of fires this year.

Venezuela has experienced the second-highest number, with more than 26,000 fires, with Bolivia
coming in third, with more than 19,000. This is a rise of 79% on last year. Peru, in fifth place, has
seen a rise of 92%.

The size of the fires in Bolivia is estimated to have doubled since late last week. About one million
hectares - or more than 3,800 square miles - are affected.

Bolivia has hired a Boeing 747 "supertanker" from the US to drop water, and accepted an offer of aid
from G7 leaders.

Extra emergency workers have also been sent to the region, and sanctuaries are being set up for
animals escaping the flames.

South American countries are planning to meet in the Colombian city of Leticia next week to discuss
a co-ordinated response to the fires.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-49433767
Amazon countries sign pact to
better protect the rainforest

Seven South American countries sign pact to

protect the Amazon
PRESIDENTS AND MINISTERS from seven Amazon countries have met in Colombia
to agree on measures to protect the world’s biggest rainforest, under threat from
wildfires and rampant deforestation.

The summit took place in the wake of an international outcry over months of raging fires
that have devastated swaths of the Amazon in Brazil and Bolivia.

The gathering aimed “to foster a space for regional dialogue to advance the protection
and sustainable use of this region, which is essential for the survival of the planet,”
Colombia’s President Ivan Duque said.

Duque inaugurated the meeting in a “maloka” – an indigenous hut – surrounded by

members of the Tikuna tribe with headdresses of coloured feathers in southern
Colombia’s Amazon city of Leticia.

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro, widely criticized over policies that favour deforestation
and a delayed reaction to the wildfires, did not travel to Leticia, citing doctors’ orders.

However, speaking by videoconference, he urged other leaders to resist calls,

spearheaded by French President Emmanuel Macron, to internationalise protection of
the Amazon.

“We must take a strong position of defence of sovereignty so that each country can
develop the best policy for the Amazon region, and not leave it in the hands of other
countries,” said Bolsonaro, who is due to undergo surgery Sunday.

Protection pact

Seated at a long wooden table in the shade of tall trees, the representatives of the seven
nations signed the Leticia Pact for the Amazon that Duque said would provide greater
protection for the rainforest, as existing treaties had “fallen short.”

The pact establishes a roadmap for safeguarding the rainforest “not only for the Amazon
countries but also for the nations of the region and the international community,” he
said.

Colombia’s Environment Minister Ricardo Lozano said the new measures include the
establishment of an “Amazonian cooperation network” to share information on
deforestation, including weather data to mitigate the effects of climate change, and
threats from illegal mining and logging.

“We needed to increase and strengthen the cooperation between us, precisely to meet the
great challenges of the Amazon, which are becoming more extreme and more intense
every day,” he told reporters in Leticia.

Aside from the host Duque, other presidents attending were Peru’s Martin Vizcarra,
Ecuador’s Lenin Moreno and Evo Morales of Bolivia. Suriname’s vice-president Michael
Adhin and Guyana’s natural resources minister Raphael Trotman also attended.

Brazil was represented by Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo.

“We have to give concrete answers,” Vizcarra told the conference. “The dimension of the
problem forces us to make drastic decisions.”

New instruments

In a message to the summit, UNESCO director general Audrey Azoulay called on leaders
to “reinforce existing instruments” designed to protect the Amazon.

“These instruments should be strengthened, more states encouraged to ratify them,

increase protected areas, strengthen surveillance and action capabilities.”

Brazil contains 60% of the rainforest within its borders, with the rest spread over areas
of Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela as well as the
French overseas department of French Guyana.

Venezuela, despite having a large swath of the Amazon, was not invited, as host
Colombia does not recognize the presidency of Nicolas Maduro.

https://www.thejournal.ie/seven-south-american-nations-sign-amazon-protection-pact-4799867-
Sep2019/?fbclid=IwAR2NUkKdHggtsNtpGPpkKT0BplqszP1vSBoQrq_4jv8UKc1SNzKNQXG9jtQ&utm
_content=100497653&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&hss_channel=fbp-48485058304
 Amazon countries sign
forest pact, promising to
coordinate disaster
response
LETICIA, Colombia (Reuters) - Seven Amazonian countries on Friday
signed a pact to protect the world’s largest tropical forest via disaster
response coordination and satellite monitoring, amid recent fires
that torched thousands of square miles of the jungle.
The presidents of Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru,
the vice-president of Suriname and the natural resource
minister of Guyana attended the one-day summit in the
jungle city of Leticia in southern Colombia.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro participated by video

link, while his foreign minister, Ernesto Araujo, attended
in person.

“This meeting will live on as a coordination mechanism

for the presidents that share this treasure - the Amazon,”
Colombian President Ivan Duque said at the signing,
adding the countries will meet again at the United Nations
Climate Change conference in December.

“Goodwill alone is not enough anymore,” Peruvian

President Martin Vizcarra added.

The countries will create a natural disaster network so they

can better cooperate in the face of events like large-scale
fires, the pact said.
The group will also work on reforestation initiatives,
increase efforts to monitor deforestation activity via
satellite, develop education initiatives and increase the role
of indigenous communities in sustainable development, it
added.

The countries also agreed to share information on

activities like illegal mining that hurt conservation, the
pact said.

The group will “work together to strengthen the programs

and financial mechanisms, reiterate the commitments
made by countries in these scenarios, mobilize public and
private resources, including the multilateral banks, as
appropriate, for the implementation of this pact.”

Bolsonaro said in his remarks during the meeting that the

pact was an affirmation of each country’s sovereignty.

Meanwhile, Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno opened

by singing “Padre,” a song by Spanish singer Joan Manuel
Serrat about environmental destruction.

Forest fires in the Brazilian Amazon have surged in

number by 83% this year, according to government data,
destroying vast swathes of a vital bulwark against global
climate change.

Some 60% of the forest is located in Brazil. The Amazon

is also home to around 1 million people who are members
of 500 indigenous groups.

Fires have also raged in recent weeks in Bolivia.

Bolsonaro initially accused nongovernmental

organizations of setting the fires, without providing any
 evidence, while environmentalists have warned his plans
for more agriculture and mining in the region will speed
up deforestation.

The far-right firebrand engaged in a public war of words

with French President Emmanuel Macron, who called for
more to be done to combat the fires. [nL2N25T0BK]

Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta in Leticia, Colombia, and Julia Symmes Cobb and Nelson
Bocanegra in Bogota; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Richard Chang and
Matthew Lewis