Brazilian Amazon fires on rise amid growing deforestation

One year ago the "Day of Fire", a day to intentionally ignite fires, triggered international outcry when the number of wildfires in the region of Novo Progresso, a city in the Amazon Region of Pará, had a massive spike.

Today, with the burning season starting, the region once again comes to national attention.

Preliminary official data published on August 7th shows that deforestation in Brazil's Amazon region over the past 12 months could be at a 14-year high, adding to concerns that President Jair Bolsonaro has failed to rein in the destruction of the world's largest tropical rainforest.

For residents of Novo Progresso, it's unfair that the crimes of few are used to label the people of a city built by hard-working ranchers.

"If there is an environmental crime committed by A, B or C, those people should not be taken as a stereotype of all the people from Novo Progresso", said Nubia Machado, a local teacher.

Smaller ranchers like 59-year-old Joaquim da Silva said that they pay the price of greedy ranchers that don't care about laws.

"All of us here, all our neighbours want their piece of land and want to have it legally, and we care about the environment. You can't cut it all down."

The Brazilian Amazon lost 9,205 square kilometres (3,554 square miles) of vegetation in the last months, according to data from the country's space agency.

That was mainly due to a surge of fires in August and September last year.

The overall loss was 34% greater than the prior 12-month period.

The data was produced by Brazil's Deter monitoring system, which provides daily deforestation alerts based on satellite images.

Data from another system named Prodes, which relies on more detailed satellite images and records more of the deforestation, will be released by yearend.

Both are administered by Brazil's space institute, which tabulates annual deforestation starting with August, when the dry season starts and farmers and loggers traditionally start using fires to clear land.

Bolsonaro came to office promising to open more of the Amazon to development, such as farming and mining. But international concern has led investors to try to distance themselves from the deforestation and to pressure the government to take more action against it.

Bolsonaro dispatched the Army last year to combat Amazon deforestation and fires, and in May he stationed troops in several states ahead of the so-called burning season.

Deter data for July registered a decrease from the same month in 2019, when deforestation surged to the highest monthly level since at least mid-2015.