the Amazon recorded a record heat in January, leading to an increase in wildfires

January 2022 was the hottest month for the Colombian Amazon in the last decade, sAccording to a report from the Ministry of the Environment to which AFP had access on Friday February 4. This has led to an increase in forest fires in this region of southeastern Colombia, with a very likely impact on air quality as far as the capital Bogota. The phenomenon occurs, adds the ministry, when the country goes through a low rainfall season. It is due to “anthropogenic activities”, i.e. to human activities, including “the most important is associated with deforestation fronts”, the report adds.

In its report, the ministry specifies that the month of January recorded the “highest value of hotspots in the last ten years” in the Colombian Amazon. At least 80% of these “hot spots” are wildfires, a ministry spokesperson said. At the end of January, the ministry identified more than 3,300 “hot spots” in the six departments that make up the Colombian Amazon, including 1,300 in the Guaviare region alone.