2019 isn't a year of extreme drought like Bolsonaro's government has claimed. If that were the case, the number of forest fires we're seeing would be doubled.
But scientific data and experts point out that — counter to recent claims from the far-right government's
— 2019 isn't actually a year of extreme drought. If that were the case, the number of forest fires would actually beAccording to data from the Amazon Environmental Research Institute , there's been a 70% increase in fires in the rainforest this year compared to the same time last August, during the year's most intense period of drought. And compared to 2016, the year when the drought was most severe overall, there was a 23% growth in fires this year, according to IPAM's data.
"What our analysis shows is that the increase in the number of outbreaks of fire is strictly associated with the amount of deforestation that has occurred in the Amazon," IPAM's scientific director, Ane Alencar, told BuzzFeed News. Fire season in the Amazon tends to occur every year, with the most severe incidents taking place between August and October. But unlike the Cerrado, Brazil's tropical grasslands, the Amazon's thickly packed vegetation — which traps moisture and keeps the rainforest from drying out — makes it very difficult to have an outbreak of fires that aren't caused by humans.
The risk of fires in the region is usually worse during El Niño years when vegetation tends to be extra dry — but 2019 was not one of those years. Brazil's Environmental Minister Ricardo Salles, who last year said that climate change was a"
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