Environment minister says severe drought is ‘aggravating’ factor as smoke engulfs Porto Velho city
Despite a sharp decrease in deforestation since the president, Lula da Silva, took power in January 2023, there have reportedly been 59,000 fires in the forest since the start of the year, the highest number since 2008, accordingThe unusually early fire season has engulfed the city of Porto Velho in smoke, prompting medical concerns about its 540,000 residents who are forced to breathe unhealthy air.
The environment minister, Marina Silva, also blamed human-caused global heating for the intense blazes. “We have seen a worsening of climate change. We had a period of El Niño, changes in the temperature of different regions, warming of the oceans, a series of issues that are aggravating the problems,” the minister said.
The government announced on Wednesday that it had mobilised 1,489 firefighters to combat the latest fires. In the past month, it said more than half of the wildfires in the north ofhad been extinguished or brought under control. But with the usual peak of the fire season in September and October, there are fears the situation could deteriorate further.
Ten Brazilian states have been affected. Federal authorities have asked the governors of Pará, Amapá, Roraima, Rondônia and Acre to decree a ban on the use of fire, which is often set by farmers to clear land. A ranchers union in Tucumã, Pará told the Guardian its members have stopped using the method this year because they are alarmed by the tinder-dry conditions.
The Amazon Basin drought has been the worst in at least two decades. In July, the National Water and Sanitation Agency declared a critical water scarcity situation along the Madeira and Purus rivers. Many regions have seen unusually low rainfall since last year, when the two great rivers that intersect at Manaus, the Solimões and Negro, fell to their lowest levelsin shallow, dirty water that had heated up to 39C.
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