AMAZON forest fires in Brazil increased by 19.5% last month compared with the same period a year ago, making it the worst June in 13 years, said authorities yesterday.

June marks the start of the dry period, and there were 2,248 recorded blazes, leaving analysts expecting a worse year for the rainforest than the devastating 2019, which provoked anger throughout the world.

The National Institute for Space Research (INPE), which follows fire alerts in real time on its website, has not recorded as many fires in June since reporting more than 3,500 in 2007.

The worst is expected next month. Last year, there were more than 30,000 fires in August, a threefold increase on the same month in 2018.

Most forest fires in the Amazon are the result of arson and directly linked to deforestation, often caused by crop farmers for cultivation.

Deforestation in Brazil was very high this year even before the dry season began, with more than 2,000 sq km lost between January and May, a 34% increase on the same period in 2019, said INPE.

The Amazon environmental research institute estimated that 9,000 sq km of jungle already cut down since last year could go up in flames before August begins.

Ecologists have accused far-right President Jair Bolsonaro – a notorious climate-change sceptic – of promoting deforestation by calling for the legalisation of farming and mining in protected zones.

Specialists also believe that an increase in forest blazes may worsen breathing difficulties in a population already badly hit by the coronavirus. – AFP, July 2, 2020.