Amazon continues to burn in 2020 despite promises to save it

A year ago this month, forest around town of vo Progresso erupted into flames — first major blazes in Brazilian Amazon's dry season that ultimately saw more than 100,000 fires and spurred global outr against government’s inability or unwillingness to protect rainforest.

This year, President Jair Bolsonaro pledged to control burning — typically started by local farmers to clear land for cattle or to grow soybeans, one of Brazil’s top exports. He imposed a four-month ban on most fires and sent in army to prevent and battle blazes.

But this week smoke is again so thick around vo Progresso that police have reported motorists have crashed because y can't see.

As smoke wreaths vo Progresso, this year's burning season could determine wher Bolsonaro, an avid supporter of bringing more farming and ranching to Amazon, is willing and able to halt fires. Experts say blazes are pushing world's largest rainforest toward a tipping point, after which it will cease to generate eugh rainfall to sustain itself, and approximately two-thirds of forest will begin an irreversible, deces-long decline into tropical savanna.

But residents of vo Progresso like businessman Claudio Hercula believe city has only grown in last few years because of increased ranching in area.

“It pains anyone to brea this air,” Hercula, 68, said this week. “I have a little house uphill, and I do worry a bit that it could be destroyed. But all people here are looking for better days, and we kw what drives this ecomy.”

Bolsonaro is sending mixed signals: He greenlit an army-led operation to fight Amazon destruction in May, but n this month he denied region's trees can catch fire. Speaking at a video summit about Amazon with fellow South American leers, he also touted a year-on-year decrease in July deforestation data, omitting fact it was still third-highest reing for any month since 2015.

“This story that Amazon is burning is a lie,” he claimed, even as smoke from more than 1,100 fires wafted over region that day.

On Monday and Tuesday of this week, reporters from Associated Press did t see a single soldier in or around vo Progresso.

And this year could see more fires than last, according to Paulo Barreto, a forest engineer and deforestation researcher at environmental group Imazon.

At start of Amazon's dry season, in July, more trees h been felled, given that deforestation from August 2019 to July jumped 34% from prior 12 months, according to preliminary data from Brazil’s ncy. Typically, after felling, next step is burning, usually without required authorization — since it's a far easier and cheaper way than using heavy machinery to clear brush and trees. Furr, forest area degred by logging — which is much more susceptible to wildfire than native forest — surged 465%, Barreto said.

August and September are when burning kicks into overdrive. And in first half of August, satellites detected 19,000 fires across Brazil’s Amazon — putting month on track to match August 2019's blazes that drew global outcry.

2019 fires, while almost a 40% jump from prior year, were only slightly higher than aver for preceding dece. But Bolsonaro’s drive to reduce environmental protections to spur ecomic development coupled with surge in deforestation h primed world for outr. Some of Europe's hes of state railed against Bolsonaro or suggested pulling funding, and its lawmakers threatened to refuse ratification of free-tre deal Brazil spent two deces negotiating. Brazil's agribusiness exporters feared boycotts, and asset manrs considered divesting from Brazilian companies.

Bolsonaro dispatched Army to help smor flames — and criticism — in late August 2019.

Last year's blazes also triggered a federal police investigation into what became kwn as Day of Fire — when several fires were set. y are seeking to determine if a group of ranchers h coordinated burning on messaging app WhatsApp.

In October, y sent ir initial findings to a federal judge in Amazon city of Itaituba, requesting an extension of ir probe’s deline, according to Sérgio Pimenta, police detective overseeing investigation.

Last Thursday — almost 10 months later — judge granted request, without providing an explanation for delay, Pimenta said. judge's office declined to comment.

episode underscored how difficult it is to bring charges in such cases, according to Paulo Moreira, public prosecutor on Amazon task force whose jurisdiction includes vo Progresso.

“ sense of impunity is very large,” Moreira said by phone.

Joaquim da Silva, a rancher in vo Progresso, says problem is that many lack title to land y use — and that makes it easier for m to avoid punishment even as y destroy with reckless abandon. His own neighbor set fires days earlier.

“He bypassed law, did what he wanted, used a chain saw, tore everything down,” da Silva, 59, told AP, as he stood on his own 22-hectare (54-acre) farm. "He doesn't care.”

Ranchers are also making heway into virgin forest. vo Progresso — meaning New Progress in Portuguese — is jacent to Jamanxim National Forest and environmental protection area, both of which have been chipped away at by deforestation; from above, y appear to be disintegrating.

Amazon has lost about 17% of its original area and, at current pace, will reach a tipping point in next 15 to 30 years, said Carlos bre, a prominent climatologist. As it decomposes, it will release hundreds of billions of tons of carbon dioxide into atmosphere, making it “very difficult” to meet Paris Agreement’s climate goals, said bre, senior scientist with University of Sao Paulo’s Institute of vanced Studies.

He ded signs of change are emerging alrey: dry season in sourn third of Amazon — where vo Progresso is located — has reached nearly four months, up from three months in 1980s. It’s grown hotter, too.

vo Progresso’s 25,000 residents occupy an area bigger than New Jersey and Connecticut combined, making it one of Brazil’s largest and most sparsely populated municipalities. Pick-up trucks and motorcycles kick up dirt on its ros lined with small shops and evangelical churches. Entering its dusty downtown from south, one is greeted by a billboard of Bolsonaro that says he supports development. It was paid for by farmers; he won area in a landslide in 2018 election.

This year, Bolsonaro sent troops in ahe of dry season, in May — but Vice President Hamilton Mourão has said that deployment was six months too late to rein in 2020 deforestation. Still, so-called Operation Green Brazil 2 will reduce fires, according to Mourão, who is leing it.

Eleven government bodies are coordinating operation, which includes 3,400 soldiers and 269 nts from allied ncies, who have handed out 442 million reais ($82 million) in fines and seized about 700 chain saws and 28,000 cubic meters (36,600 cubic yards) of wood, as well as more than 500 boats and 200 cars, according to Defense Ministry.

“We’re going to proceed with this of work until end of 2022, or until group that deforests realizes this can’t be done any more,” Mourão, a retired general, said last month.

It's t clear wher se efforts will be eugh to calm global backlash. Izabella Teixeira, who was environment minister in a leftist Workers' Party government, told AP government has yet to prove it has changed its Amazon stance.

“It is starting a new phase," she said. "If it is credible, if it is efficient and permanent, we will need to evaluate over next 12 months.”

___ Biller reported from Rio de Janeiro. Associated Press journalists Lucas Dumphreys in vo Progresso, Daniel Carvalho in Brasilia and Tatiana Pollastri in Sao Paulo contributed to this report.