Fears grow as Amazon fires surge by 28pc

THE number of fires in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest jumped 28 per cent in July from a year ago, official data showed yesterday, as some environmentalists warned a jump this week could signal a repeat of last year’s surging destruction of the world’s largest rainforest.

Brazil’s space research agency Inpe recorded 6,803 fires in the Amazon last month, up from 5,318 in July 2019.

Although that is a three-year high for July, the figure pales in comparison to last year’s peak of 30,900 fires in August – a 12-year high for that month.

Still, environmental groups say there are worrying signs of what may come, with the final days of the month showing a sharp spike. More than 1,000 fires were registered on July 30, the highest number for a single day in July since 2005, according to an analysis by advocacy group Greenpeace Brasil.

“It’s a terrible sign,” said Ane Alencar, science director at Brazil’s Amazon Environmental Research Institute. “We can expect that August will already be a difficult month and September will be worse yet.”

Fires are also worsening in the Pantanal, the world’s largest wetlands, adjacent to the southern Amazon. In July, blazes there more than tripled to 1,684 compared to the same month a year ago, according to Inpe data.