Brazil's Amazon sees most wildfires in 20 yrs

RIO DE JANEIRO — The Brazilian Amazon recorded 13,489 wildfires in the first half of the year, the worst figure in 20 years, satellite data revealed on Monday.

The total was up more than 61 percent compared with the corresponding period last year, an increase that experts say is the result of a historic drought that struck the world's largest tropical rainforest last year.

Since Brazil's National Institute for Space Research began compiling records in 1998, only two other years experienced more wildfires from January through June: 2003 (17,143) and 2004(17,340).

The data make difficult news for the government, with the number of fires increasing even as deforestation in the Amazon — which helps reduce global warming by absorbing carbon dioxide — is on the wane.

"Climate change is contributing" to the increase in the number of wildfires, said Romulo Batista, spokesman for the Brazilian branch of Greenpeace.

Most of Brazil's biomes, or distinct natural regions, are under stress because of a lack of precipitation, Batista said. "The environment is drier, thus vegetation is more dried out and more vulnerable to fires."

But most of the wildfires were likely not spontaneous, such as being sparked by lightning, he said, but instead caused by human activity, especially the use of agricultural burning.

Wildfires also set January-June records in two other biodiverse ecosystems south of the Amazon: the Pantanal, one of the world's largest tropical wetlands, and the Cerrado savanna, which lies mainly in Brazil.

In the Pantanal, home to millions of caimans, parrots, giant otters and the world's highest density of jaguars, 3,538 wildfires were recorded in the first six months, an increase of more than 2,000 percent compared with last year.

Last month alone, 2,639 fires were detected, six times the highest number ever recorded. In recent days, residents of the Pantanal have seen a red-tinged sky and clouds of smoke because of the blazes.

The situation is worrisome as the height of the wildfire season is normally in the second half of the year, especially in September, when weather is at its driest.

Mato Grosso state, where much of the Pantanal is located, declared a state of emergency last week, and authorities announced that firefighters would be dispatched from other regions to help battle the flames.

The Cerrado, one of Earth's three great savannas, experienced 13,229 fires from January through June, almost as many as the Amazon.

Agencies Via Xinhua