Brazil’s largest city, São Paulo, woke up on Monday to a plume of wildfire smoke as a record number of fires raged across the state and the Amazon basin, killing at least three people and threatening to engulf one of the world’s largest ecosystems.
Wildfires in the Amazon rainforest have long been a major environmental issue for Brazil and neighboring countries such as Bolivia, Peru, Venezuela and Colombia. The annual wildfires became a global political issue in 2019, while conservative former President Jair Bolsonaro was still in office. Many famous people, from actor Leonardo DiCaprio to singer Madonna, as well as American celebrities, have spoken out about the fires. Self-proclaimed “Climate justice advocates” like Mark Ruffalo have criticized President Bolsonaro for not supporting far-left climate alarmist policies, saying they hold the president responsible for policies that will ultimately lead to a decrease in Amazon deforestation.
The current fire outbreak under the rule of Socialist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is the worst in more than a decade. Between January and August 19, Brazil’s National Space Research Institute (INPE) Documented The country’s 88,900 fires are the worst since 2010 and equal to the number recorded that year, 2004 and 2007. All four fires were during President Lula’s presidency. Notably, he claimed this weekend that the fires were caused by arson, but none of the celebrities who enthused over the 2019 Amazon wildfire crisis have claimed responsibility as of press time.
Brazilian Newspapers O Globo Reported On Monday, it said the area burned this year is the equivalent of 9,000 football fields, affecting eight states and the Federal District of Brasilia (DF). Most of the affected states are deep in Brazil’s Amazon, but the capital and Sao Paulo are also seeing high levels of air pollution, which Sao Paulo reported in 45 cities. under A state of emergency was declared for 180 days.
The state of Sao Paulo Confront This is the most fires since 1998, the first year INPE began tracking Amazon fires. As of Sunday, authorities had recorded a record 3,482 fires in Sao Paulo this month, far surpassing the previous record of 2,444 wildfires in August of 2010. Caused Sao Paulo alone suffered losses of 350 million reais ($63.6 million).
3 as of Monday Deaths (number) The recorded deaths include one person killed trying to protect rural property from flames on August 18th, and two more killed on August 23rd, also while trying to put out an unspecified factory fire.
Brazilian media outlet UOL reported that at least 800 people had been left homeless by the fires as of Monday, and at least hundreds more were believed to have been affected by smoke from the wildfires, including more than 500 people treated by medical staff at a music festival that was abruptly canceled in the state of Sao Paulo. cancel The music festival was canceled Sunday after smoke made it impossible to be outdoors. Around 60 festival-goers were reportedly hospitalized with smoke inhalation.
President Lula’s Socialist government held an emergency meeting on Sunday, with the president blaming arsonists, not poor forest management, for the fires.
“When you put out the fire and turn around, the fire comes back even bigger,” Lula said. lamented“So even if you turn it off, it comes back.”
In a social media post, President Lula claimed the government had not confirmed any fires of natural causes and had instructed police to launch an investigation into potential perpetrators.
The president appears to have the backing of Sao Paulo state’s conservative governor, Tarcisio de Freitas, who said on Sunday that police had already arrested two people in connection with the fire.
“They are all carrying petrol and trying to start a fire and escalate the situation,” he explained, according to UOL. “We will not tolerate this. Security forces have been mobilised to stop this type of behaviour,” he added.
President Lula’s Environment Minister, Marina Silva, reiterated at an emergency meeting that the fires ravaging São Paulo’s marshes are unprecedented in scale.
“In São Paulo, under any circumstances, it is not natural for fires to occur simultaneously over two days and involving several municipalities,” Silva said. said“This is a real fight against fire and delinquency, and it’s an unusual situation.”
Silva also appeared to address growing public discontent in his remarks, insisting that “it is not true that the federal government has failed.”
Notably, President Bolsonaro also blamed arsonists for the fire in 2019, a claim widely derided by left-wing activists.
Lula is more interested in declaring the fires arson than putting them out. Preceding Brazil’s Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) on Monday called for more firefighters and equipment to deal with the crisis. O Globo President Lula provided the firefighters with an air force transport plane, but the plane was not on duty on Sunday, the media reported on Monday.
Brazil’s disaster has not made international headlines or attracted much Hollywood attention, with figures who have remained silent including Leonardo DiCaprio, who famously feuded online with Bolsonaro over the fires during his presidency. Posts Social media posts about Brazil in the past week have not mentioned the fires. Mark Ruffalo, who actively campaigned for Lula in the 2022 presidential election, has also said nothing about the fires on his highly active Twitter account, which is currently focused on Brazil’s wars. Gaza.
President Joe Biden threatened to destroy Brazil’s economy as a 2020 presidential candidate, saying during a debate that if he became president he would threaten Bolsonaro with “significant economic consequences” if he did not accept U.S. funds. Biden has not publicly commented on the current fires as of press time. In his last White House statement about Brazil, the president said: flood In May.
