The Brazilian Amazon recorded its highest number of fires in 17 years: Agency January 2, 2025

Last year, thick clouds of smoke covered major cities, including Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo

Pablo PORCIUNCULA

By AFP - Agence France Presse

The Brazilian Amazon recorded its highest number of fires in 17 years: Agency.

The Brazilian Amazon rainforest recorded its highest number of fires in 17 years in 2024, according to government figures published on Wednesday, after the vast biome suffered months of a long drought.

There were 140,328 fires detected by satellite images during the year, according to the National Institute for Space Research (INPE).

This was 42% more than the 98,634 fires recorded in 2023 - and the highest number since 2007, when 186,463 forest fires were observed.

However, despite the high number of fires, there are indications that the total area that has suffered deforestation may be the lowest in years.

At the beginning of November, INPE said that deforestation in the region in the 12 months to August 2024 had fallen by more than 30% compared to the previous year and was at its lowest level in nine years.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has made preserving the Amazon a priority for his government, which will host the UN COP30 climate conference in the Amazonian city of Belém in November this year.

Europe's climate monitor, the EU's Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, said last month that severe drought had caused forest fires across South America by 2024.

Last year, thick clouds of smoke sometimes blanketed major cities, including Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo, with suffocating pollution that lasted for several weeks.

Drought has parched the Amazon region since mid-2023, driven by man-made climate change and the El Nino warming phenomenon.

This has helped create the conditions for major fires, but experts say that most of the blazes have been set deliberately by ranchers to clear land for agriculture.

Scientists warn that continued deforestation will put the Amazon on track to reach a point where it emits more carbon than it absorbs, accelerating climate change.

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