(Brasilia) President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced new measures Tuesday to combat drought in the Brazilian Amazon, amid growing pressure on the government to respond to Brazil’s “pandemic” of fires.
Accompanied by several of his ministers, the president met with representatives of localities in the state of Amazonas (north).
High temperatures have dried up rivers that provide navigation, food and water to people in remote villages. The Brazilian government has announced dredging work on the Amazon River and other waterways, and the provision of water purifiers.
In Manaus, the state capital, Lula announced the creation of a “climate authority” responsible for managing “extreme climate risks,” a campaign promise ahead of his third term (2023-2026).
“We must focus on adaptation,” he said, because “these events will become more frequent and more intense,” noted Environment Minister Marina Silva, who accompanied him.
Brazil is facing a historic drought that experts link to climate change. Multiple fires are spreading and releasing clouds of smoke that, carried by the winds, extend to neighboring countries and pollute the ambient air.
PHOTO MARCELO CAMARGO, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
People ride bicycles as the sky is covered in smoke due to forest fires in the Brasilia region
Sao Paulo, Latin America’s largest city in the southeast of the country, topped the ranking of the world’s most polluted metropolises for the second day in a row, according to Swiss air quality monitoring company IQAir.
Lula’s trip came on the same day as a hearing by the Federal Supreme Court aimed at taking measures to contain the fires that are also raging in the Pantanal, a rich biodiversity sanctuary located in the southern Amazon.
Referring to a “fire pandemic,” Judge Flavio Dino ordered the convening “within five days” of more firefighters in the worst-hit states.
With more than 5,000 active fires on Tuesday, Brazil alone accounts for 76% of the fires burning in all of South America, according to data from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE).
Since the beginning of the year, some 6.7 million hectares have burned in the Brazilian Amazon, or 1.6% of the world’s largest tropical forest, according to official figures.