A record number of forest fires were recorded in the Amazon in 2024

In the first half of the year in Brazil, 13,489 forest fires were registered in the Amazon, which is the worst indicator in 20 years, reported AFP.
The total is up 61% compared to the same period last year. This situation is caused by the historic drought that affected the world's largest rainforest last year.
Since Brazil's National Space Research Institute began collecting data in 1998, only two other years have recorded more wildfires from January to June: 2003 (17,143) and 2004 (17,340).
The data is difficult news for the government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, as the number of fires is increasing even as deforestation in the Amazon is decreasing.
Wildfires also set records for the January-June period in two other biodiverse ecosystems south of the Amazon: the Pantanal, one of the world's largest tropical wetlands, and the Cerrado savannah, which is mostly found in Brazil.
In the Pantanal, home to millions of caimans, parrots, giant otters and the highest density of jaguars in the world, 3,538 fires were recorded in the first six months of 2024 - an increase of more than 2,000% compared to last year.
From January to June, there were almost as many fires in the Cerrado as in the Amazon - 13,229. | BGNES