Fires in Brazil's Amazon rainforest jump in October
Source: Devdiscourse, Date: , 2020
Fires in Brazil's Amazon rainforest surged
in October and the number of blazes is up 25% in the first 10 months of 2020,
compared to a year ago, data from government space research agency Inpe showed
on Sunday.
October recorded 17,326 hot spots in the
world's largest rainforest, more than double the number of fires detected in
the same month last year. Destruction of the forest has soared since right-wing
President Jair Bolsonaro took office in 2019. The president says he wishes to
develop the region to lift it out of poverty, while environmental advocates say
his policies embolden illegal loggers, miners and ranchers.
The number of fires so far this year
remains at a decade high. In only the first 10 months of the year, 2020 has
surpassed the total number of fires for full-year 2019, when the destruction
spurred international criticism that Brazil was not doing enough to protect the
forest. Advocacy group WWF-Brasil blamed the government for failing to stop
those who cut down the forest.