Brazil Prohibits Burnings In National Territory For 4 Months

The Federal Government of Brazil issued a decree on Thursday prohibiting the burnings in the national territory, a decision that aims at reducing fires during the drought period, especially in the Amazon rainforest, according to the Ministry of Environment.

RELATED:

Brazil: Amazon Deforestation Rises 25 Percent Over Last 6 Months

The so-called queimadas, by which farmers clear land for cultivation or planting grass, are a widespread agricultural practice in Brazil, despite it causing fires in forests and large areas.

The decree issued today prohibits such practices for 120 days, taking into account that, as pointed out by data from the National Institute for Space Research, the highest incidence of fires occurs between August and October.

According to the Ministry of Environment, the suspension of fires does not apply in some cases, as prevention practices. This means that scientific research and phytosanitary control activities are authorized.

However, outside the Amazon and the Pantanal area, controlled burnings can be carried out when essential for the agriculture of Indigenous communities and must have authorization of the 
respective environmental organizations.

On July 10, the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) warned that from January to June this year, it was deforestation alerts were recorded on 3,070 square kilometers in the Brazilian Amazon, and such warnings have increased 25 percent in 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.

Last year, when the INPE released data showing that more than 74,000 fires between January and August had damaged the Amazon rainforest as this was the highest number in a decade, Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro dismissed the numbers by justifying that it was burning season.

Nevertheless, Environment Minister Ricardo Salles said today that "it is important to signal that we do not want to burn. Anyone who burns is incurring open illegality."