The fires that raged across the Brazilian Amazon this summer were not ‘normal’ and large increases in deforestation could explain why, scientists show.
The perceived scale of the Amazon blazes received global attention this summer. However, international concerns raised at the time were countered by the Brazilian Government, which claimed the fire situation in August was ‘normal’ and ‘below the historical average’.
An international team of scientists writing in the journal Global Change Biology say the number of active fires in August was actually three times higher than in 2018 and the highest number since 2010.
Although fires in the Amazon can occur in a number of ways, the scientists show that there is strong evidence to link this year’s increases to deforestation.
They have used evidence collected from the Brazilian Government’s DETER-b deforestation detection system – which calculates deforestation by interpreting images taken by NASA satellites.
This shows that deforestation in July this year was almost four times the average from the same period in the previous three years. This is important as deforestation is almost always followed by fire - the cut vegetation is left to dry before being burned.
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