Suspicion Grows As Experts Suggest That Amazon Fires Were Intentional


As news reaches around the world that the Amazon rainforest is burning at an unprecedented rate, people are beginning to ask questions about who is responsible. In the past week, since August 15, over 9,500 new forest fires were reported in Brazil, most of them spread across the Amazon basin.

According to Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research, over 74,000 forest fires were started in Brazil this year, which is nearly double the 40,000 fires that were recorded in 2018. This represents an 83 percent increase in wildfires when compared to the same time last year, making it the most fires recorded in a single year since the Brazilian government started tracking such matters.

Even before this ominous development, things were looking pretty bleak for the Amazon. Last month, Truth Theory reported on new data from the National Institute for Space Research in Brazil, showing that the region’s rainforest saw an 80% reduction between 2006 and 2012. The report also noted that last year, deforestation increased to the highest levels seen in a decade, with a 13% increase that year alone.

Experts and activists have suggested a variety of reasons for the recent burning, but the common theme is that the government is allowing the rainforest to be ravaged by farmers and corporations for their own personal gain.

Christian Poirier, program director for the conservationist group, “Amazon Watch,” believes that these fires were started intentionally for the purpose of clearing space for cattle ranchers.

“The unprecedented fires ravaging the Amazon are an international tragedy and a dangerous contribution to climate chaos. This devastation is directly related to President Bolsonaro’s anti-environmental rhetoric, which erroneously frames forest protections and human rights as impediments to Brazil’s economic growth,” Poirier said in a statement.

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