Amazon on Fire

Translation of a note by Erika Berenguer (mostly done by Google Translate):

"I have been working in the Amazon for 12 years and for 10 years I have been researching the impacts of fire on the largest rainforest in the world. My doctorate and my postdoc were on it, and I've seen the forest burning under my feet more often than I'd like to remember. So I feel obliged to bring some clarifications as a scientist and as a Brazilian, since for most people the Amazon reality is so distant:

First, and most importantly, fires in the Amazon rainforest do not occur naturally - they need a source of human-made ignition or, in other words, for someone to put the fire out. Unlike other ecosystems, such as the Cerrado, the Amazon has NOT evolved with fire and this is NOT part of its dynamic. This means that when the Amazon catches fire, a huge part of its trees die because they have no fire protection at all. When they die, these trees then decompose, releasing into the atmosphere all the carbon they stored, thus contributing to climate change. The problem with this is that the Amazon stores a lot of carbon in its trees, the entire forest stocks the equivalent of 100 years of US CO2 emissions, so burning the forest means putting a lot of CO2 back into the atmosphere.

The fires, which are necessarily caused by man, are of two types: the one used to clear the fields and the one used to clear an area; what we are seeing is of the second kind. In order to clear the forest, it is first cut down, usually with what is called a correntão - two tractors linked by a huge chain, so with the tractors walking, the chain between them is bringing the forest to the ground. The forest fell for a while on the ground drying, usually months into the dry season, because only then the vegetation loses enough moisture to be able to set fire to it, making all that vegetation disappear, and then it is possible to plant grass. The great fires that we are seeing now that made the sky of São Paulo darken represent this last step in the dynamics of deforestation - turning the fallen forest to ashes.

In addition to the loss of carbon and biodiversity caused by deforestation itself, there is also a more invisible loss - that which occurs in burned forests. The fire from deforestation can escape to un deforested areas and if it is dry enough, it can also burn the standing forest. A forest that then stores 40% less carbon than previously stored, and again carbon that has been lost to the atmosphere. The burnt forests are no longer a lush green, life-littering, and the cacophony of sounds from various animals is muted - the forest acquires shades of browns and grays, with the only sounds being those of falling trees.

The dry season in the Amazon has always brought burns and for years I have been trying to draw attention to forest fires like those of 2015 when the forest was exceptionally dry due to El Niño. What's different this year is the scale of the problem. It is the increase of deforestation coupled with the numerous outbreaks of burning and the increase of carbon monoxide emissions (which shows that the forest is burning), which culminated in the black rain in São Paulo and the diversion of flights from Rondônia to Manaus, cities a mere thousand kilometers away. And the most alarming thing about this whole story is that we are at the beginning of the dry season. In October, when the peak of the dry season in Pará reaches its peak, the tendency is unfortunately for the situation to get much worse.

In 2004 Brazil reached 25000 km2 of deforested forest in the year. Since then we have reduced this rate by 70%. It is possible to curb and combat deforestation, but it depends as much on societal pressure as on political will. It is up to the government to take responsibility for current deforestation rates and stop speeches that promote impunity in the countryside. It must be understood that without the Amazon there is no rain in the rest of the country, seriously compromising our agricultural production and our power generation. It must be understood that the Amazon is not a bunch of trees together, but our greatest asset.

It is an indescribable pain to see the largest rainforest in the world, my object of study, and my own country burn. The barbecue filled with the deep silence in a burnt forest are not images that will ever get out of my head. It was a trauma. But on the current scale, you won't need to be a researcher or resident of the region to feel the pain of losing the Amazon. The ashes of our country now seek us even in the great metropolis."