There is no lack of statistics to auscultate this great patient in the process of dying that is the Amazon. But the latest figures published on Monday September 19 are edifying. On its Brazilian part, the forest has suffered more fires since January (75,500) than during the whole of 2021 (75,000).
See that huge red and black stain? These are the fires in the Amazon. Right here right now.
The forest is burning, the future with it. Who talks about it? pic.twitter.com/G1exhkjyky— Bruno Meyerfeld (@brunomeyerfeld) September 5, 2022
It is the satellites of the National Institute for Space Research that make it possible to make these very precise readings. Their images also show that September is a particularly devastating month: during the first week, there were more outbreaks than in the entire month last year.
The causes ? Global warming and deforestation, an explosive cocktail aggravated by the four years in office of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Since January 2019, deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has increased by 75% compared to the previous decade.
If deforestation is intensifying even more this year, it is also because the Head of State has literally given his blank check to large farmers, cattle breeders and miners, votes he absolutely needs to catch up his delay in the presidential race which takes place in October.
#Amazonia80x25 l Alicia Guzmán León, subdirectora Programa Amazonia, https://t.co/ZNARPhJwAQ, mentioned that the deforestation and degradation in the Amazonia is advancing rapidly, por tanto es urgente ver el 2025 como una meta climática que tiene que ser visada a nivel regional. pic.twitter.com/PRBAh0jBa0
— COICA Amazonia (@coicaorg) September 19, 2022
As a result of these forest fires, the Amazon is reaching what scientists call “a tipping point”. A point of no return. This is the moment when the forest is no longer able to maintain its own rains, and when it is transformed into another, drier ecosystem, like that of the savannah.
The trees then become smaller, less lush, their capacity to absorb carbon is considerably reduced. Biodiversity is reduced, fauna is changing: blue frogs, emblematic of the Amazon, peccaries or river dolphins are becoming fewer and fewer.
Specialists have been increasing alerts for several years. But at the beginning of the month, on September 6, by a group of Amazonian environmental organizations (RAISG) and the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (Coica) published a report on the entire south-east of the forest, where the dry season is getting longer and longer, where some areas have started to turn into savannah: the “tipping point” has been reached.
It’s reversible, but the only way to stop this drying out is to quickly restore (by 2025) about 6% of the forest surface – It doesn’t seem like a lot but it represents 54 million hectares. However, half of the Amazon (52%) does not currently benefit from any protection (only two of the nine countries that make it up, Suriname and French Guiana, have been able to keep more than half of their forests intact).
Para salvar a Amazônia é precise derrotar Bolsonaro! pic.twitter.com/8eFYTirxyo
— PSOL 50 (@psol50) September 12, 2022
Except that it would mean curbing agriculture, mining, oil extraction, putting away road projects and hydroelectric power stations. Politically, economically it is impossible: the Amazonian states are among the most indebted countries in the world, these lucrative activities allow them to repay part of their debts.
The tiny glimmer of hope is the presidential election of October 2 and 30: facing Bolsonaro, the former leader of the left promises to better preserve the environment. “Bolsonaro government = Amazon in danger“, says for example this leaflet of the Party “Socialism and Freedom”, with a view to the presidential election. The Amazon has everything to gain if Lula wins.