• Brazil: Forest fires in Brazil increase by 83% due to deforestation and drought in the Amazon
  • Environment Bolsonaro shuffles censoring data on deforestation in the Amazon

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro hinted on Wednesday that non-governmental organizations (NGOs) may be behind the fires unleashed in the Amazon, which are the largest recorded in recent years.

"There may be, yes, and I am not affirming, a criminal action by those 'oenegeros' to call attention against me, against the Government of Brazil, and that is the war we face," Bolsonaro told reporters, whose aggressive Policies for the commercial exploitation of the Amazon have raised controversies.

To reinforce his thesis, Bolsonaro cited that his Government has "cut off the public money that was going to the NGOs" that operate in the Amazon region, with projects "supposedly" aimed at caring for the ecosystem.

"That way, these personnel are feeling the lack of money," added the ultra-right ruler, who said that now the task of the authorities is to determine if the fires in the largest lung of the planet have been caused.

"The crime exists. Now, we have to do what is possible so that this crime does not increase" and establish the responsibilities "if there were any," said Bolsonaro, who insisted that the NGOs operating in the Amazon "represent interests of others" to Brazil.

According to the state National Institute of Space Research (INPE), which counts fires with the help of satellite images, the outbreaks of fire throughout the country so far this year exceed 83% of those of the same period of 2018.

In a report released on Tuesday, the INPE said that between January 1 and August 18 it has registered 71,497 sources of fire in the country and that 52.5% are located in the Amazon region.

The extension of the fires has forced some Amazonian states, such as Amazonas and Acre, to declare an emergency or environmental alert because the smoke can cause respiratory diseases and affects even air traffic.

Last Monday, part of the states of Mato Grosso do Sul and Paraná, as well as the city of Sao Paulo, the largest in the country, were affected by intense clouds of smoke caused by fires that completely obscured the sky shortly after noon.

According to the INPE, during the last week, the outbreaks of fire have affected 68 protected areas or indigenous reserves in the Amazon region.

The NGOs, on the other hand, fear that the increase in fires may be due to the action of landowners and businessmen from the countryside who, encouraged by Bolsonaro's policies, have decided to advance over the Amazon to expand their plantations.

According to the Institute of Environmental Research of the Amazon (Ipam), the increase in fires "is related to deforestation and not to a stronger drought as might be expected."

In a statement, that independent institution said that "if the drought does not explain the fires, the resumption of deforestation does. The fire is normally used (by settlers and landowners) to clean the land after deforestation."

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Brazil
  • Jair Bolsonaro
  • Environment
  • Climate change

EnvironmentMore intentional fires in Andalusia, but fewer eyes to monitor the forests

The correspondent's lookThe natural paradise that Jair Bolsonaro wants to turn into a "Brazilian Cancun"

Brazil Bolsonaro shuffles censoring data on deforestation in the Amazon