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| Meta Title | Amazon Rainforest Fires: Hereās Whatās Really Happening - The New York Times |
| Meta Description | How widespread are the fires? Is climate change to blame? Whoās at fault for the burning? |
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| Boilerpipe Text | michael barbaro From The New York Times, Iām Michael Barbaro. This is āThe Daily.ā Today: More than 26,000 fires have been recorded inside the Amazon rainforest in August alone, triggering global calls for action. So why is Brazilās government telling the rest of the world to mind its own business? Itās Wednesday, August 28. ernesto londoƱo Through the prism of Twitter or Facebook, I think a lot of people last week, understandably, engaged in this communal panic about the fate of the worldās largest rainforest. michael barbaro Ernesto LondoƱo covers Brazil for The Times. archived recording Urgent pleas to save the rainforest as the Amazon burns. [music] archived recording 1 Forest fires are raging in the rainforest. There have been nearly 73,000 fires this year already, a more than 80 percent increase compared to last year. archived recording 2 [CHANTING] archived recording 3 With international protests ā archived recording 4 Action for the Amazon! archived recording 5 ā the world is demanding action. archived recording 6 The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has described the fires as an international emergency. ernesto londoƱo You were seeing presidents, you were seeing celebrities. archived recording And actor Leonardo DiCaprio working to help combat the wildfires in the Amazon rainforest. The climate change ā ernesto londoƱo You were seeing these really alarming posts and these photographs of patches of the rainforest on fire. archived recording The smoke is traveling far and wide. ernesto londoƱo And I think many people, understandably, were left with the impression that, within a few days, the Amazon was going to be reduced to a pile of ashes. archived recording The Amazon rainforest, the so-called lungs of the world, are now filling with smoke. The forest ā ernesto londoƱo I think, in many peopleās minds, there was a clear villain in all of this ā archived recording Directly blaming the record fires in the Amazon on Brazilian President Jair ā ernesto londoƱo ā the president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, who has shifted his governmentās approach on the environment in a really dramatic way. archived recording And scientists warn this could be a devastating blow to the fight against climate change. There have been more ā ernesto londoƱo And this is certainly a story about climate change. And itās a story about President Bolsonaro. But itās a far more complicated story than weāve been hearing. michael barbaro So where should we start this story? ernesto londoƱo I mean, I think itās important to think about the history of the Amazon. archived recording The great Amazon River of South America is so deep and so wide that the people of Brazil call it the āriver sea.ā ernesto londoƱo I think for decades, the Amazon captured peopleās imagination in a way that few places on Earth did. archived recording The tropical rainforest biome is a complex community exceedingly rich in many forms of plant and animal life, a showplace of natural history. ernesto londoƱo It was this mysterious and dangerous place that drew adventurers and scientists and botanists. archived recording Through ceaseless evolution, a display of flora and fauna has developed here unequaled anywhere else on land. ernesto londoƱo And you know, for many, many years, it was these images of this raw wildlife and the mystique that laid under the canopy that people were fascinated by. archived recording Moist, always-green forests still cover one-tenth of the Earthās land surface and comprise a large part of the total forest area of the world. ernesto londoƱo It contains the largest supply of freshwater in the world, and itās just teeming with biodiversity. But in the 1970s, the Brazilian government, which was then led by military rulers, decided it was time to settle this vast rainforest. archived recording The conquest of Western Brazil began in 1970 with the construction of the Trans-Amazonian Highway. ernesto londoƱo And it created a road that cut through the Amazon and started encouraging people to move there and to start making a living there. archived recording The dense bush gave way to large buildings, where mining equipment is kept, and to silos, which today hold a harvest of mineral plenty. ernesto londoƱo Their view was that the Amazon contained tons of resources ā minerals, land that could be converted into farmland ā and that it was time to turn it into an economic engine for Brazil. archived recording The dream of gold ā a heady prospect, which has set menās hearts on fire since ancient times. In modern-day Brazil, theyāve torn the earth asunder for it. ernesto londoƱo When it starts happening initially, people realize that things are changing. But there was no real alarm until a few years later, when things get really out of control. archived recording All that glitters may indeed be gold and beautiful once itās cleaned. But any short-term profits come not without a price to be paid. ernesto londoƱo Where trees start getting chopped down at a really staggering rate ā archived recording And that price is turning out to be high for humans and animals alike. ernesto londoƱo ā and people start realizing that the worldās largest rainforest is being destroyed, is atrophying at an astonishing speed. archived recording These are some Indian friends of mine in the Amazon. Their lives today are in great danger. Their beautiful home in the rainforest is being destroyed by logging, mining and ranching. ernesto londoƱo This sparks worldwide consternation. And people start asking whether the Amazon might cease to exist one day if it continues to be destroyed at this rate. archived recording And this is the rainforest in 30 years if present trends continue. Itās all gone. The lungs of the earth destroyed. ernesto londoƱo You know, you had politicians, you had artists, you had songs about this. archived recording (SINGING) All that beauty is the rainforest, the tropical rainforest. ernesto londoƱo It really became a cultural moment. archived recording (RAPPING) Where the balance of natureās like a delicate lace. We should have some compassion and show some concern, ācause the forest depends on what we learn. ernesto londoƱo People became very invested in this idea that everybody had a role to play in saving the Amazon. archived recording (RAPPING) That means horrors ā bulldozers and axes clearing the forest. So many species weāll never understand, ācause weāre taking their homes by destroying their land. michael barbaro Right. This is the āSave the Rainforestā campaign. ernesto londoƱo Yeah. michael barbaro And does this movement have an effect in Brazil? ernesto londoƱo It does. But I think itās important to note that it is greeted with very deep skepticism and, to an extent, paranoia, in some circles. I think thereās long been a view among conservative nationalist Brazilians that all this outcry about the fate of the rainforest was really a veiled attempt to keep Brazil from developing its God-given potential. I think many Brazilians saw these calls to preserve the Amazon as infringing its sovereignty. And for many years, they were pretty dismissive about this. And they said that the fate of the Amazon was only for Brazil and its neighbors to think about, debate about, and decide on. michael barbaro Hmm. So what happens to this development of the Amazon? ernesto londoƱo During the 1990s and the early 2000s, we see deforestation reaching really staggering levels. Concern around the world, I think, reaches a point where the Brazilians can no longer ignore what people outside of the country were saying about this. So when President Lula, a leftist, is in office in the early 2000s, he appoints a woman who was from the rainforest to serve as his minister of the environment. Her name is Marina Silva. And she came up with a really bold and ambitious plan to rein in deforestation and create more conservation areas. She was somebody who was lauded across the world for doing something that people thought was almost impossible, to stop these loggers and these miners and these farmers from reaching deeper and deeper into the Amazon year after year after year. And for a while, Brazil was pretty successful. michael barbaro So all of this outcry leads Brazil to begin regulating and slowing this development. ernesto londoƱo Thatās right. Another thing the government did was it started issuing some pretty stiff fines for deforestation and other environmental crimes. And for a while, this had the intended effect. And one of the reasons Brazil was successful in reining in deforestation during this era is the economy was doing pretty well. So there were plenty of jobs in the city. And people were less tempted to venture deep into the jungle, where they faced the risk of fines. However, the good days came to an end. And in 2014, the country plunged into a brutal recession. And what this meant was tens of thousands of men were suddenly unemployed. And many of them were lured back into the jungle. Why? Because there was money to be made. These were dangerous jobs. These were risky ventures. But for many people, it was the only way to put food on the table. [music] michael barbaro And so the deforestation started all over again? ernesto londoƱo Deforestation starts climbing again. michael barbaro Weāll be right back. Ernesto, so, a recession hits and deforestation is back on the rise. What does this mean for Brazilians? ernesto londoƱo So around this time, many people who were being fined for violating environmental laws were refusing to pay and sensed that they could get away with it. And among them was a then-congressman, Jair Bolsonaro, who was allegedly busted fishing in a wildlife reserve. He refused to identify himself when the agents saw him. But the agent recognized him, took his picture, documented that he was in a wildlife reserve, and issued him a citation. Bolsonaro never bothered to pay his fine. And then, last year, when heās running for president and when he becomes a front-runner, Mr. Bolsonaro said that the fines that were issued by this agency amounted to a racket. He called it an industry that needed to be shut down. michael barbaro So Bolsonaro, when he campaigns for president, does so by kind of flagrantly disregarding the environmental protections of the Amazon, and, it seems like, by tapping into this longstanding nationalist view that the Amazon is a Brazilian resource that Brazilians should be tapping into, and any effort to stop that is a globalist intervention, and it will hurt Brazil. ernesto londoƱo Thatās right, Michael. But he wasnāt only angry about environmental fines. He was also very frustrated with indigenous territories. These are territories that now cover about 13 percent of Brazilās land mass. And Mr. Bolsonaro spoke in unusually hostile terms about indigenous people. He essentially said, you have these small indigenous communities sitting on land that could be extremely profitable. And they should be allowed to bring in outsiders to set up mining camps, to develop farmland, to start producing wealth. michael barbaro And so his solution, it sounds like, is to develop more and more of the Amazon. ernesto londoƱo Absolutely. And when he wins, he wastes no time on delivering on his campaign promises on this front. One of his first steps in office was to give the ministry of agriculture control over the process of adjudicating any new indigenous territories. It was essentially giving the people who had an interest in developing these territories and changing their nature entirely the keys to the kingdom. You know? Environmentalists and indigenous activists were appalled. And they braced for a bruising fight. michael barbaro So what happens when Bolsonaro starts making these changes across the government and allowing for more development of the Amazon? ernesto londoƱo Well, even before any new laws or regulations came to fruition, I think people out in the countryside felt emboldened. And we started hearing anecdotes of miners and of loggers striding into indigenous territories and other protected areas in a way that was more visible and bolder than they had before. What we also see is a sharp rise in deforestation. During the first six months of the Bolsonaro era, deforestation increased by roughly 40 percent. And historically, the rate of deforestation has been closely linked to the prevalence of forest fires. michael barbaro Right. So this is what weāre seeing in all these photos online. The Amazon is on fire. And itās rampant deforestation under Bolsonaro that has caused it. ernesto londoƱo Thatās right. And there were, literally, thousands of fires burning across the Amazon. But I think what many people didnāt quite understand was that this happens every year. Around this time, when it tends to be cooler and drier across the Amazon, thereās a slash-and-burn cycle that happens, where farmers and people who have logged patches of the Amazon clear the bush and set it on fire. And most of these fires tend to be relatively small and relatively contained. But something was different this year. The number was unusually high. So far this month, thereās been more than 26,000 fires detected through satellite imagery. Thatās more than twice the number of fires registered last year. But this was, by no means, an all-time high. You know, weāve seen other periods in years past when there were far more fires burning across the Amazon. I think what was different this year is you had all these alarming and widely shared posts on social media, some of which were using pictures that were many, many years old that werenāt really an accurate reflection of what was happening on the ground this year. michael barbaro So what do you make of that, this response, which has been so enormous, and the history and reality of this situation in Brazil? ernesto londoƱo Clearly, it has put a spotlight on a problem that is very real and very serious. The Amazon is shrinking at a rate that many scientists call unsustainable. They fear that itās approaching a so-called tipping point, where large sections turn into savanna and where it might be impossible to turn it back into lush, thick rainforest. However, I think the way this story got off the ground may have been counterproductive for the international community to engage the Brazilian government and its very impulsive leader in a constructive debate. archived recording The European leaders threatened to scrap a major trade deal with ā ernesto londoƱo Brazil, last week, faced the prospect that a trade deal that Brazil and a few neighboring countries reached with the European Union could be nixed. archived recording I think thereās going to be an international reaction to boycott Brazilian food just to protest ā ernesto londoƱo There were calls to boycott Brazilian products. archived recording French President Emmanuel Macron is now calling the fires an international crisis that should be on the agenda at the G7 summit this weekend in France. ernesto londoƱo And the G7 leaders, who were about to have their conference in France, said that this was going to be a last-minute high-profile item added to the agenda. Brazil, I think understandably, said, wait a minute. How are you going to discuss the fate of the Amazon when weāre not at the table? This makes no sense. archived recording G7 leaders agreeing to a $20 million financial aid package to help Brazil fight the fires in the Amazon. ernesto londoƱo And even as pledges of emergency aid started being dangled by European leaders and by organizations that wanted to take some immediate and urgent action on these fires, the Brazilian government wasnāt ready to say, sure, weāll take the help. michael barbaro So all this outrage, all these online photos, all these alarmed messages, and this sense from Europe that this is a crisis that it can help solve, how is that looking and feeling to people inside Brazil? ernesto londoƱo I think many Brazilians are deeply concerned about the fate of the Amazon. And they very much want their country to do more to rein in deforestation and to pay attention to the messages that weāre hearing from across the world. However, this is a very bitterly polarized society. And on the flip side of that, I think many people resent the idea that European powers would bark down orders to a former colony and tell it how it needs to administer its affairs. And thatās certainly the approach the president has taken. He recently said that if the Europeans had many million dollars to spend on conservation efforts, that they should plant some trees in their own countries. michael barbaro So in Bolsonaroās mind, this is a Brazilian issue, and the rest of the world should, essentially, mind its own business. ernesto londoƱo Absolutely. He says the Amazon is ours, and weāre not going to entertain criticism or prescriptions from countries that, many years ago, razed down their own forests and grew their economies in doing so. So thatās been his position, and itās hard to see him backing down. michael barbaro Itās interesting, Ernesto. As weāre talking about this, Iām realizing that as horrifying as the development of the rainforest might feel to people watching from the outside, and as scary as these fires are, it does seem unusual for other countries to tell a country what it can and canāt do with its resources. If the U.S., theoretically, wants to blow up the Grand Canyon or log entire national parks, those might be insane ideas. But no one can stop the United States from doing that. If we want to frack in West Virginia, itās up to us. Itās our land. ernesto londoƱo Absolutely. Many Brazilians say, hey, this is our territory. This is our land. Donāt mess with our sovereignty. But on the other hand, the Amazon is a unique and special and irreplaceable place. And if we contemplate the possibility that some 50 years from now it will disappear or become a fraction of itself, the consequences are very significant. [music] ernesto londoƱo The Amazon is a repository of carbon. So if it vanishes, there will be lots of carbon that will be released back into the atmosphere, which will warm the planet. And if, as the rainforest diminishes, more of its land becomes cattle-grazing pastures, that also would contribute to warming, because cattle grazing is one of the top emitters of greenhouse gas. michael barbaro And so the rest of the world does have a stake in this fight. ernesto londoƱo Absolutely. I think right now, the Brazilian government is in no mood to open the door for this debate and to have a global discussion about the fate of the Amazon. But itās facing the real possibility of a boycott of its products, which people have been warning about on social media, and of a core trade deal that may now be on thin ice. And if we see this debate going on for months, Brazil might be forced to come to the negotiating table and have this moment of reckoning with others across the world. michael barbaro Ernesto, thank you very much. ernesto londoƱo My pleasure, Michael. michael barbaro On Tuesday, after initially rejecting $22 million in aid from the countries of the G7 to fight the fires in the Amazon, Brazilās government said it might accept the aid under certain conditions. President Bolsonaro said he would take the money if Franceās president, Emmanuel Macron, apologized for remarks about Brazil and its environmental record that Bolsonaro said he found offensive. Weāll be right back. Hereās what else you need to know today. archived recording Repeat a little bit of what you said in court ā archived recording (teala davies) All Iām going to say is today is a day of power and strength. michael barbaro During an emotional hearing in Manhattan on Wednesday, more than a dozen victims of Jeffrey Epsteinās alleged sexual abuse told their stories to a federal judge and assailed a criminal justice system that they said had failed them. archived recording (chauntae davies) It makes me sick to my stomach that thereās perpetrators out there that obviously helped him in many ways for a very long time, and theyāre still out there with no punishment. michael barbaro The hearing was held to officially dismiss the charges against Epstein following his suicide, which leaves prosecutors with no defendant to try. But it gave his accusers a rare chance to speak out. Several of the women in the courtroom addressed their remarks to the prosecutors, urging them to keep investigating Epsteinās employees and associates, who they said acted as his accomplices. archived recording (virginia giuffre) I was recruited at a very young age from Mar-a-Lago and entrapped in a world that I didnāt understand. And Iāve been fighting that very world to this day. And I wonāt stop fighting. I will never be silenced until these people are brought to justice. michael barbaro Thatās it for āThe Daily.ā Iām Michael Barbaro. See you tomorrow. |
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# Amazon Rainforest Fires: Hereās Whatās Really Happening
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Amazon Rainforest Fires: The Scope of the Destruction
The rainforest, critical to absorbing the planetās carbon dioxide, has seen an increase in deforestation under President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil.CreditCredit...Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters
By [Alexandria Symonds](https://www.nytimes.com/by/alexandria-symonds)
- Published Aug. 23, 2019Updated Aug. 28, 2019
[Leer en espaƱol](https://www.nytimes.com/es/2019/08/23/espanol/america-latina/incendios-amazonia-bolsonaro.html "Read in Spanish")
The hashtag \#PrayForAmazonas was the top trending topic in the world on Twitter on Wednesday, as images of a rain forest on fire spread across the internet. Hereās what we know so far about the fires raging in the Amazon.
## How widespread are the fires in the Amazon?
The number of fires identified by satellite images in the Amazon so far this month is the highest since 2010, according to Brazilās National Institute of Space Research agency, which tracks deforestation and forest fires using satellite images.
*\[Update:* [*Amid outrage over rainforest fires, many in the Amazon remain defiant*](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/26/world/americas/brazil-amazon-rainforest-fire.html)*.\]*
The number of fires identified by the agency in the Amazon region so far this year, 40,341, is about 35 percent higher than the average for the first eight months of each year since 2010.
Image
A fire in the Amazon rain forest on Tuesday near Porto Velho, Rondonia State, Brazil.Credit...Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters
The decade before that included several years in which the number of fires identified during the first eight months was far higher.
## How did the fires start?
Natural fires in the Amazon are rare, and the majority of these fires were set by farmers preparing Amazon-adjacent farmland for next yearās crops and pasture.
Much of the land that is burning was not old-growth rain forest, but land that had already been cleared of trees and set for agricultural use.
Image
A satellite image showing fires burning in the Brazilian states of Amazonas, upper left, Para upper right, Mato Grosso, lower right, and Rondonia, lower left, last week.Credit...NASA
*\[*[*President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil rejected millions in aid offered by Group of 7 leaders*](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/27/world/americas/brazil-amazon-aid.html)*.\]*
## How unusual are the fires? How dangerous are they to the rain forest?
INPEās figures represent a 79 percent increase in fires from the same period in 2018. There have been large numbers of fires in other recent years as well: According to a manager of Global Forest Watch, the number of fires in the Amazon this year is roughly comparable to 2016.
Deforestation more broadly is [always a cause for concern](https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/01/science/earth/01forest.html). Last year, [the world lost](https://www.wri.org/blog/2019/04/world-lost-belgium-sized-area-primary-rainforests-last-year) about 30 million acres of tree cover, including 8.9 million acres of primary rain forest, an area the size of Belgium, according to data from the University of Maryland.
The destruction of the Amazon rain forest in Brazil has increased rapidly since the nationās new far-right president took over and his government scaled back efforts to fight illegal logging, ranching and mining.
Image
Land scorched by fire in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil.Credit...Rogerio Florentino/EPA, via Shutterstock
While campaigning for president last year, Mr. Bolsonaro declared that [Brazilās vast protected lands were an obstacle](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/10/world/americas/brazil-indigenous-mining-bolsonaro.html?module=inline) to economic growth and [promised to open them up](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/17/climate/brazil-election-amazon-environment.html?module=inline) to commercial exploitation.
Less than a year into his term, that is already happening.
Brazilās part of the Amazon lost more than 1,330 square miles of forest cover in the first half of 2019, a 39 percent increase over the same period last year, according to the government agency that tracks deforestation.
The Amazon is often referred to as Earthās ālungs,ā because its vast forests release oxygen and store carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping gas that is a major cause of global warming. If enough rain forest is lost and canāt be restored, the area will become savanna, which doesnāt store as much carbon, meaning a reduction in the planetās ālung capacity.ā
Image
Smoke from fires in the Amazon rain forest covering the city of Porto Velho, Rondonia, Brazil.Credit...Roni Carvalho/EPA, via Shutterstock
*\[Read about the* [*backlash against Brazilās environmental policies*](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/22/world/americas/brazil-amazon-fires-bolsonaro.html)*, which have paved the way for runaway deforestation of the Amazon.\]*
## Did climate change cause these fires, and how will they affect climate change?
These fires were not caused by climate change. They were, by and large, set by humans. However, climate change [can make fires worse](https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/22/science/as-fires-grow-a-new-landscape-appears-in-the-west.html). Fires can burn hotter and spread more quickly under warmer and drier conditions.
When it comes to the future of climate change, widespread fires contribute a dual negative effect. Trees are valuable because they can store carbon dioxide, and that storage capacity is lost when trees burn. Burning trees also pumps more carbon into the atmosphere.
Image
Fire damage in Brasilia, Brazil.Credit...Adriano Machado/Reuters
## How does deforestation work? Is this different?
Deforestation can be caused by natural factors, like insects or blight, or by humans. This is a typical case of human deforestation: Farmers cut down trees to plant or expand a farm, then burn the leavings to clear the ground.
Brazil had previously tried to portray itself as a leader in protecting the Amazon and fighting global warming. From 2004 to 2012, the country created new conservation areas, increased monitoring and took away government credits from rural producers who were caught razing protected areas. This brought deforestation to the lowest level since record-keeping began.
But as the economy plunged into a recession in 2014, the country became more reliant on the agricultural commodities it produces ā beef and soy, which are drivers of deforestation ā and on the powerful rural lobby. Land clearing, much of it illegal, began to tick upward again.
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### Listen to āThe Dailyā: Why the Amazon Is Burning
The number of fires raging in the Amazon rainforest this month is the highest in a decade, putting the environmental policies of Brazilās president in the global spotlight.
transcript
Back to The Daily
0:00/26:22
\-26:22
transcript
## Listen to āThe Dailyā: Why the Amazon Is Burning
### Hosted by Michael Barbaro, produced by Clare Toeniskoetter and Michael Simon Johnson, and edited by Lisa Chow and Lisa Tobin
#### The number of fires raging in the Amazon rainforest this month is the highest in a decade, putting the environmental policies of Brazilās president in the global spotlight.
michael barbaro
From The New York Times, Iām Michael Barbaro. This is āThe Daily.ā
Today: More than 26,000 fires have been recorded inside the Amazon rainforest in August alone, triggering global calls for action. So why is Brazilās government telling the rest of the world to mind its own business?
Itās Wednesday, August 28.
ernesto londoƱo
Through the prism of Twitter or Facebook, I think a lot of people last week, understandably, engaged in this communal panic about the fate of the worldās largest rainforest.
michael barbaro
Ernesto LondoƱo covers Brazil for The Times.
archived recording
Urgent pleas to save the rainforest as the Amazon burns.
\[music\]
archived recording 1
Forest fires are raging in the rainforest. There have been nearly 73,000 fires this year already, a more than 80 percent increase compared to last year.
archived recording 2
\[CHANTING\]
archived recording 3
With international protests ā
archived recording 4
Action for the Amazon\!
archived recording 5
ā the world is demanding action.
archived recording 6
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has described the fires as an international emergency.
ernesto londoƱo
You were seeing presidents, you were seeing celebrities.
archived recording
And actor Leonardo DiCaprio working to help combat the wildfires in the Amazon rainforest. The climate change ā
ernesto londoƱo
You were seeing these really alarming posts and these photographs of patches of the rainforest on fire.
archived recording
The smoke is traveling far and wide.
ernesto londoƱo
And I think many people, understandably, were left with the impression that, within a few days, the Amazon was going to be reduced to a pile of ashes.
archived recording
The Amazon rainforest, the so-called lungs of the world, are now filling with smoke. The forest ā
ernesto londoƱo
I think, in many peopleās minds, there was a clear villain in all of this ā
archived recording
Directly blaming the record fires in the Amazon on Brazilian President Jair ā
ernesto londoƱo
ā the president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, who has shifted his governmentās approach on the environment in a really dramatic way.
archived recording
And scientists warn this could be a devastating blow to the fight against climate change. There have been more ā
ernesto londoƱo
And this is certainly a story about climate change. And itās a story about President Bolsonaro. But itās a far more complicated story than weāve been hearing.
michael barbaro
So where should we start this story?
ernesto londoƱo
I mean, I think itās important to think about the history of the Amazon.
archived recording
The great Amazon River of South America is so deep and so wide that the people of Brazil call it the āriver sea.ā
ernesto londoƱo
I think for decades, the Amazon captured peopleās imagination in a way that few places on Earth did.
archived recording
The tropical rainforest biome is a complex community exceedingly rich in many forms of plant and animal life, a showplace of natural history.
ernesto londoƱo
It was this mysterious and dangerous place that drew adventurers and scientists and botanists.
archived recording
Through ceaseless evolution, a display of flora and fauna has developed here unequaled anywhere else on land.
ernesto londoƱo
And you know, for many, many years, it was these images of this raw wildlife and the mystique that laid under the canopy that people were fascinated by.
archived recording
Moist, always-green forests still cover one-tenth of the Earthās land surface and comprise a large part of the total forest area of the world.
ernesto londoƱo
It contains the largest supply of freshwater in the world, and itās just teeming with biodiversity.
But in the 1970s, the Brazilian government, which was then led by military rulers, decided it was time to settle this vast rainforest.
archived recording
The conquest of Western Brazil began in 1970 with the construction of the Trans-Amazonian Highway.
ernesto londoƱo
And it created a road that cut through the Amazon and started encouraging people to move there and to start making a living there.
archived recording
The dense bush gave way to large buildings, where mining equipment is kept, and to silos, which today hold a harvest of mineral plenty.
ernesto londoƱo
Their view was that the Amazon contained tons of resources ā minerals, land that could be converted into farmland ā and that it was time to turn it into an economic engine for Brazil.
archived recording
The dream of gold ā a heady prospect, which has set menās hearts on fire since ancient times. In modern-day Brazil, theyāve torn the earth asunder for it.
ernesto londoƱo
When it starts happening initially, people realize that things are changing. But there was no real alarm until a few years later, when things get really out of control.
archived recording
All that glitters may indeed be gold and beautiful once itās cleaned. But any short-term profits come not without a price to be paid.
ernesto londoƱo
Where trees start getting chopped down at a really staggering rate ā
archived recording
And that price is turning out to be high for humans and animals alike.
ernesto londoƱo
ā and people start realizing that the worldās largest rainforest is being destroyed, is atrophying at an astonishing speed.
archived recording
These are some Indian friends of mine in the Amazon. Their lives today are in great danger. Their beautiful home in the rainforest is being destroyed by logging,
mining and ranching.
ernesto londoƱo
This sparks worldwide consternation. And people start asking whether the Amazon might cease to exist one day if it continues to be destroyed at this rate.
archived recording
And this is the rainforest in 30 years if present trends continue. Itās all gone. The lungs of the earth destroyed.
ernesto londoƱo
You know, you had politicians, you had artists, you had songs about this.
archived recording
(SINGING) All that beauty is the rainforest, the tropical rainforest.
ernesto londoƱo
It really became a cultural moment.
archived recording
(RAPPING) Where the balance of natureās like a delicate lace. We should have some compassion and show some concern, ācause the forest depends on what we learn.
ernesto londoƱo
People became very invested in this idea that everybody had a role to play in saving the Amazon.
archived recording
(RAPPING) That means horrors ā bulldozers and axes clearing the forest. So many species weāll never understand, ācause weāre taking their homes by destroying their land.
michael barbaro
Right. This is the āSave the Rainforestā campaign.
ernesto londoƱo
Yeah.
michael barbaro
And does this movement have an effect in Brazil?
ernesto londoƱo
It does. But I think itās important to note that it is greeted with very deep skepticism and, to an extent, paranoia, in some circles. I think thereās long been a view among conservative nationalist Brazilians that all this outcry about the fate of the rainforest was really a veiled attempt to keep Brazil from developing its God-given potential. I think many Brazilians saw these calls to preserve the Amazon as infringing its sovereignty. And for many years, they were pretty dismissive about this. And they said that the fate of the Amazon was only for Brazil and its neighbors to think about, debate about, and decide on.
michael barbaro
Hmm. So what happens to this development of the Amazon?
ernesto londoƱo
During the 1990s and the early 2000s, we see deforestation reaching really staggering levels. Concern around the world, I think, reaches a point where the Brazilians can no longer ignore what people outside of the country were saying about this. So when President Lula, a leftist, is in office in the early 2000s, he appoints a woman who was from the rainforest to serve as his minister of the environment. Her name is Marina Silva. And she came up with a really bold and ambitious plan to rein in deforestation and create more conservation areas. She was somebody who was lauded across the world for doing something that people thought was almost impossible, to stop these loggers and these miners and these farmers from reaching deeper and deeper into the Amazon year after year after year. And for a while, Brazil was pretty successful.
michael barbaro
So all of this outcry leads Brazil to begin regulating and slowing this development.
ernesto londoƱo
Thatās right. Another thing the government did was it started issuing some pretty stiff fines for deforestation and other environmental crimes. And for a while, this had the intended effect. And one of the reasons Brazil was successful in reining in deforestation during this era is the economy was doing pretty well. So there were plenty of jobs in the city. And people were less tempted to venture deep into the jungle, where they faced the risk of fines. However, the good days came to an end. And in 2014, the country plunged into a brutal recession. And what this meant was tens of thousands of men were suddenly unemployed. And many of them were lured back into the jungle. Why? Because there was money to be made. These were dangerous jobs. These were risky ventures. But for many people, it was the only way to put food on the table.
\[music\]
michael barbaro
And so the deforestation started all over again?
ernesto londoƱo
Deforestation starts climbing again.
michael barbaro
Weāll be right back.
Ernesto, so, a recession hits and deforestation is back on the rise. What does this mean for Brazilians?
ernesto londoƱo
So around this time, many people who were being fined for violating environmental laws were refusing to pay and sensed that they could get away with it. And among them was a then-congressman, Jair Bolsonaro, who was allegedly busted fishing in a wildlife reserve. He refused to identify himself when the agents saw him. But the agent recognized him, took his picture, documented that he was in a wildlife reserve, and issued him a citation. Bolsonaro never bothered to pay his fine. And then, last year, when heās running for president and when he becomes a front-runner, Mr. Bolsonaro said that the fines that were issued by this agency amounted to a racket. He called it an industry that needed to be shut down.
michael barbaro
So Bolsonaro, when he campaigns for president, does so by kind of flagrantly disregarding the environmental protections of the Amazon, and, it seems like, by tapping into this longstanding nationalist view that the Amazon is a Brazilian resource that Brazilians should be tapping into, and any effort to stop that is a globalist intervention, and it will hurt Brazil.
ernesto londoƱo
Thatās right, Michael. But he wasnāt only angry about environmental fines. He was also very frustrated with indigenous territories. These are territories that now cover about 13 percent of Brazilās land mass. And Mr. Bolsonaro spoke in unusually hostile terms about indigenous people. He essentially said, you have these small indigenous communities sitting on land that could be extremely profitable. And they should be allowed to bring in outsiders to set up mining camps, to develop farmland, to start producing wealth.
michael barbaro
And so his solution, it sounds like, is to develop more and more of the Amazon.
ernesto londoƱo
Absolutely. And when he wins, he wastes no time on delivering on his campaign promises on this front. One of his first steps in office was to give the ministry of agriculture control over the process of adjudicating any new indigenous territories. It was essentially giving the people who had an interest in developing these territories and changing their nature entirely the keys to the kingdom. You know? Environmentalists and indigenous activists were appalled. And they braced for a bruising fight.
michael barbaro
So what happens when Bolsonaro starts making these changes across the government and allowing for more development of the Amazon?
ernesto londoƱo
Well, even before any new laws or regulations came to fruition, I think people out in the countryside felt emboldened. And we started hearing anecdotes of miners and of loggers striding into indigenous territories and other protected areas in a way that was more visible and bolder than they had before. What we also see is a sharp rise in deforestation. During the first six months of the Bolsonaro era, deforestation increased by roughly 40 percent. And historically, the rate of deforestation has been closely linked to the prevalence of forest fires.
michael barbaro
Right. So this is what weāre seeing in all these photos online. The Amazon is on fire. And itās rampant deforestation under Bolsonaro that has caused it.
ernesto londoƱo
Thatās right. And there were, literally, thousands of fires burning across the Amazon. But I think what many people didnāt quite understand was that this happens every year. Around this time, when it tends to be cooler and drier across the Amazon, thereās a slash-and-burn cycle that happens, where farmers and people who have logged patches of the Amazon clear the bush and set it on fire. And most of these fires tend to be relatively small and relatively contained. But something was different this year. The number was unusually high. So far this month, thereās been more than 26,000 fires detected through satellite imagery. Thatās more than twice the number of fires registered last year. But this was, by no means, an all-time high. You know, weāve seen other periods in years past when there were far more fires burning across the Amazon. I think what was different this year is you had all these alarming and widely shared posts on social media, some of which were using pictures that were many, many years old that werenāt really an accurate reflection of what was happening on the ground this year.
michael barbaro
So what do you make of that, this response, which has been so enormous, and the history and reality of this situation in Brazil?
ernesto londoƱo
Clearly, it has put a spotlight on a problem that is very real and very serious. The Amazon is shrinking at a rate that many scientists call unsustainable. They fear that itās approaching a so-called tipping point, where large sections turn into savanna and where it might be impossible to turn it back into lush, thick rainforest. However, I think the way this story got off the ground may have been counterproductive for the international community to engage the Brazilian government and its very impulsive leader in a constructive debate.
archived recording
The European leaders threatened to scrap a major trade deal with ā
ernesto londoƱo
Brazil, last week, faced the prospect that a trade deal that Brazil and a few neighboring countries reached with the European Union could be nixed.
archived recording
I think thereās going to be an international reaction to boycott Brazilian food just to protest ā
ernesto londoƱo
There were calls to boycott Brazilian products.
archived recording
French President Emmanuel Macron is now calling the fires an international crisis that should be on the agenda at the G7 summit this weekend in France.
ernesto londoƱo
And the G7 leaders, who were about to have their conference in France, said that this was going to be a last-minute high-profile item added to the agenda. Brazil, I think understandably, said, wait a minute. How are you going to discuss the fate of the Amazon when weāre not at the table? This makes no sense.
archived recording
G7 leaders agreeing to a \$20 million financial aid package to help Brazil fight the fires in the Amazon.
ernesto londoƱo
And even as pledges of emergency aid started being dangled by European leaders and by organizations that wanted to take some immediate and urgent action on these fires, the Brazilian government wasnāt ready to say, sure, weāll take the help.
michael barbaro
So all this outrage, all these online photos, all these alarmed messages, and this sense from Europe that this is a crisis that it can help solve, how is that looking and feeling to people inside Brazil?
ernesto londoƱo
I think many Brazilians are deeply concerned about the fate of the Amazon. And they very much want their country to do more to rein in deforestation and to pay attention to the messages that weāre hearing from across the world. However, this is a very bitterly polarized society. And on the flip side of that, I think many people resent the idea that European powers would bark down orders to a former colony and tell it how it needs to administer its affairs. And thatās certainly the approach the president has taken. He recently said that if the Europeans had many million dollars to spend on conservation efforts, that they should plant some trees in their own countries.
michael barbaro
So in Bolsonaroās mind, this is a Brazilian issue, and the rest of the world should, essentially, mind its own business.
ernesto londoƱo
Absolutely. He says the Amazon is ours, and weāre not going to entertain criticism or prescriptions from countries that, many years ago, razed down their own forests and grew their economies in doing so. So thatās been his position, and itās hard to see him backing down.
michael barbaro
Itās interesting, Ernesto. As weāre talking about this, Iām realizing that as horrifying as the development of the rainforest might feel to people watching from the outside, and as scary as these fires are, it does seem unusual for other countries to tell a country what it can and canāt do with its resources. If the U.S., theoretically, wants to blow up the Grand Canyon or log entire national parks, those might be insane ideas. But no one can stop the United States from doing that. If we want to frack in West Virginia, itās up to us. Itās our land.
ernesto londoƱo
Absolutely. Many Brazilians say, hey, this is our territory. This is our land. Donāt mess with our sovereignty. But on the other hand, the Amazon is a unique and special and irreplaceable place. And if we contemplate the possibility that some 50 years from now it will disappear or become a fraction of itself, the consequences are very significant.
\[music\]
ernesto londoƱo
The Amazon is a repository of carbon. So if it vanishes, there will be lots of carbon that will be released back into the atmosphere, which will warm the planet. And if, as the rainforest diminishes, more of its land becomes cattle-grazing pastures, that also would contribute to warming, because cattle grazing is one of the top emitters of greenhouse gas.
michael barbaro
And so the rest of the world does have a stake in this fight.
ernesto londoƱo
Absolutely. I think right now, the Brazilian government is in no mood to open the door for this debate and to have a global discussion about the fate of the Amazon. But itās facing the real possibility of a boycott of its products, which people have been warning about on social media, and of a core trade deal that may now be on thin ice. And if we see this debate going on for months, Brazil might be forced to come to the negotiating table and have this moment of reckoning with others across the world.
michael barbaro
Ernesto, thank you very much.
ernesto londoƱo
My pleasure, Michael.
michael barbaro
On Tuesday, after initially rejecting \$22 million in aid from the countries of the G7 to fight the fires in the Amazon, Brazilās government said it might accept the aid under certain conditions. President Bolsonaro said he would take the money if Franceās president, Emmanuel Macron, apologized for remarks about Brazil and its environmental record that Bolsonaro said he found offensive.
Weāll be right back.
Hereās what else you need to know today.
archived recording
Repeat a little bit of what you said in court ā
archived recording (teala davies)
All Iām going to say is today is a day of power and strength.
michael barbaro
During an emotional hearing in Manhattan on Wednesday, more than a dozen victims of Jeffrey Epsteinās alleged sexual abuse told their stories to a federal judge and assailed a criminal justice system that they said had failed them.
archived recording (chauntae davies)
It makes me sick to my stomach that thereās perpetrators out there that obviously helped him in many ways for a very long time, and theyāre still out there with no punishment.
michael barbaro
The hearing was held to officially dismiss the charges against Epstein following his suicide, which leaves prosecutors with no defendant to try. But it gave his accusers a rare chance to speak out. Several of the women in the courtroom addressed their remarks to the prosecutors, urging them to keep investigating Epsteinās employees and associates, who they said acted as his accomplices.
archived recording (virginia giuffre)
I was recruited at a very young age from Mar-a-Lago and entrapped in a world that I didnāt understand. And Iāve been fighting that very world to this day. And I wonāt stop fighting. I will never be silenced until these people are brought to justice.
michael barbaro
Thatās it for āThe Daily.ā Iām Michael Barbaro. See you tomorrow.
Listen Ā· 26:22 min
## Are the fires the fault of President Jair Bolsonaro?
There is evidence that farmers feel more emboldened to burn land following the election of Mr. Bolsonaro.
[A New York Times analysis](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/28/world/americas/brazil-deforestation-amazon-bolsonaro.html) of public records found that enforcement actions intended to discourage illegal deforestation, such as fines or seizure of equipment, by Brazilās main environmental agency fell by 20 percent during the first six months of this year.
Mr. [Bolsonaro blames](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/27/world/americas/brazil-amazon-aid.html) nongovernmental organizations for the fires. He has cited no evidence, and environmental experts dispute the claim.
## What is Brazilās government doing to fight the fires?
Some local governments have said they are shoring up their fire brigades. On Thursday, Mr. Bolsonaro said the Brazilian government lacked the resources to fight the fires, but on Friday he said he would direct the military to enforce environmental laws and to help contain the fires.
Ernesto LondoƱo, Manuela Andreoni, Henry Fountain and John Schwartz contributed reporting.
A version of this article appears in print on Aug. 24, 2019, Section A, Page 8 of the New York edition with the headline: What We Know About the Thousands of Fires in the Amazon, the Planetās āLungsā. [Order Reprints](https://nytimes.wrightsmedia.com/) \| [Todayās Paper](https://www.nytimes.com/section/todayspaper) \| [Subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscriptions/Multiproduct/lp8HYKU.html?campaignId=48JQY)
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### Related Coverage
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[With Amazon Rain Forest Ablaze, Brazil Faces Global Backlash Aug. 22, 2019 ](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/22/world/americas/brazil-amazon-fires-bolsonaro.html?action=click&module=RelatedCoverage&pgtype=Article®ion=Footer)
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| Readable Markdown | null |
| Shard | 84 (laksa) |
| Root Hash | 4566504020376537684 |
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