[1] AL JAZEERA: THE AMAZON IS BURNING: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
[6 QUESTIONS; 27aug2019]
Where are
the fires? Why is the Amazon important? Six things to know about the fires
burning in the 'lungs of Earth'.
Access
RAS 2019-10-01
 |
Source: Bioma Amazônia Brasil; whithout fires.
|
The Amazon is being shrouded in plumes of smoke as fires rage across parts of the rainforest, imperilling the
so-called "lungs of the planet" and the vast array of life to which
it is home.
Visible from
outer space, the smoke billows have prompted international alarm, calls
for action and much finger-pointing over what, or who, is responsible for the
burning.
Brazilian President JAIR BOLSONARO, in particular, has come under intense scrutiny for his controversial
stewardship of Brazil's
majority share of the rainforest.
AL
JAZEERA answers some of the major questions being asked about the crisis in the
Amazon, one of Earth's greatest natural treasures.
[1] WHERE ARE THE FIRES?
The fires are burning across a range of states in Brazil's section of
the Amazon rainforest.
Northerly Roraima down through Amazonas, Acre, Rondonia and Mato Grosso
do Sul have all been badly affected.
Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE) spotted more
than 9,500 new forest fires in Brazil since August 15 alone, while atmospheric
monitoring agencies have tracked smoke from the Amazon region drifting
thousands of kilometres across the Latin American giant to the Atlantic coast
and Sao Paulo, briefly turning daytime in Brazil's biggest city to night last week.
 |
Source|: ALJAZEERA; by David Child; 27
Aug 2019
|
Amazonas, Brazil's largest state, declared a state of emergency on
August 9 while Acre has been on environmental alert since August 16
due to the fires.
Several other countries in the Amazon region, including Bolivia and Peru, which border Brazil, have also seen a surge in fires this year,
according to INPE data.
[2] HOW MANY?
Brazil: Concerns grow
over burning Amazon as probe launched
The INPE recorded nearly 73,000 fires in Brazil between January and
August this year - the highest since INPE records began in 2013 and a more than
80 percent bump on the figure for the same period last year. Most of them
were in the Amazon.
Meanwhile, as of August 26, a NASA analysis said that "scientists using NASA satellites to track fire
activity have confirmed an increase in the number and intensity of fires in the
Brazilian Amazon in 2019, making it
the most active fire year in that region since 2010". It also added,
"The state of Amazonas is on track for record fire activity in
2019".
[3] WHAT'S
CAUSING THEM?
Fires are a
regular and natural occurrence in the Amazon at this time of year, during the
dry season.
But environmentalists and non-governmental organisations have
attributed the record number of fires to farmers setting the forest alight to
clear land for pasture and to loggers razing the forest for its wood, with INPE
itself ruling out natural phenomena being responsible for the surge.
Critics say far-right President BOLSONARO's weakening of Brazil's environmental agency, IBAMA, and push to open up the
Amazon region for more farming and mining has emboldened such actors and
created a climate of impunity for those felling the forest illegally.
 |
The Amazon is the largest tropical forest in the world, covering
more than five million square kilometres [Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters]
Source|: ALJAZEERA; by David Child; 27
Aug 2019
|
Recent evidence appears to bear that out with preliminary data
showing deforestation in the Brazilian
Amazon is skyrocketing under BOLSONARO's
watch.
The rate of forest destruction soared more than 278 percent in July
compared with the same month a year ago, according to research by the Amazon Environmental Research
Institute. Previously,
INPE pegged the rate of deforestation in June at 88 percent higher than during
the corresponding month in 2018.
"These statistics speak to who is in power and what he (BOLSONARO)
is doing to undermine environmental protection ... and open the floodgates to
illegal and destructive behaviour," said Christian Poirier, Brazil
programme director for NGO Amazon Watch.
BOLSONARO's government, meanwhile, has offered a range of explanations
for the blazes - including increased drought and the president himself making
unfounded claims that NGOs had started the fires in an attempt to undermine his
administration after it slashed their funding.
BOLSONARO said last week he had authorised the use of troops to help
contain the blazes and stop illegal deforestation, but he also blamed the
weather for the fires.
Brazilian
military planes began dumping water on fires in Rondonia over the weekend,
but the government had yet to provide any operational details for other
states.
[4] WHY DOES THE [CONTINENTAL]
AMAZON MATTER?
The Amazon is the largest tropical forest in the world, covering more
than five million [sic; 7 milion] square kilometres across nine countries [in
South America]: Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana,
Peru, Suriname and Venezuela.
|
Source|: ALJAZEERA; by David Child; 27 Aug 2019
It acts as an enormous carbon sink, storing up to an estimated 100 years
worth of carbon emissions produced by humans, and is seen as vital to
slowing the pace of global warming.
"The
Amazon is the most significant climate stabiliser we have," Poirier
said.
Put simply,
he added, preserving the forest is of "critical importance" for both
the region it encompasses and the rest of the world.
But
in the last half-century alone, nearly 20 percent of the forest has
disappeared.
Scientists
have warned that if tree loss in the Amazon were to pass a
certain "tipping point", somewhere between 25 and 40 percent,
deforestation could start to feed on itself and lead to the demise of the
forest within a matter of decades.
"One of
the cornerstones of climatic stability on our planet is in peril and the
consequences of this are almost too large to fathom," Poirier said.
"The future of our civilisation depends on its integrity."
[5] WHO (AND WHAT) CALLS THE AMAZON HOME?
The Amazon
has been inhabited by humans for at least 11,000 years and is home to more than
30 million people - about two-thirds of whom live in cities carved out of the
greenery.
Among those living in the region are about one million
indigenous people who are divided into some 400 tribes, according to indigenous rights group Survival International.
Most live in villages, though some remain nomadic, with each tribe
possessing its distinct language and culture, both of which are traditionally intimately
intertwined with the surrounding environment.
JONATHAN
MAZOWER, a spokesman for Survival
International, said the tribes were "dependent on their forests for
everything, and have managed and looked after them for millennia".
"[But]
many are seeing their lands burned in front of their eyes, and with it their
livelihood, source of food, medicines, and their very homes," he added.
 |
About one million indigenous
people, divided into some 400 tribes, live throughout the Amazon
rainforest [Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters]
INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
Indigenous people from the Mura tribe show
a deforested area inside the Amazon rainforest near Humaita, Amazonas State,
Brazil, on August 20, 2019.
CREDIT: UESLEI
MARCELINO / REUTERS
Source: ALJAZEERA;
by David Child; 27 Aug 2019
|
POIRIER * agreed,
saying the fires pose an "affront" to the "safety and
integrity" of their way of life.
[* Who is POIRIER?. AMAZON
WATCH, a group that works to protect the
rainforest and the indigenous people of the Amazon, says farmers have been
setting forests ablaze to create pastures. Farmers and ranchers have been
emboldened to do so by the government, said AMAZON WATCH program director CHRISTIAN
POIRIER. From CBS News: ]
"Indigenous
people are on the front line of this struggle - the work they do to protect the
forest is so vital and their connection to the forest is so important to their
cultures," he added.
"The potential is here for not just environmental devastation, but
also cultural genocide."
In addition to the human presence within the Amazon, the forest
also houses 10 percent of all known wildlife species, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), with a
"new" species of animal or plant discovered in the rainforest every
three days on average.
[6] HOW HAS THE WORLD
REACTED?
Predominantly with a chorus of concern and condemnation of BOLSONARO's environmental stewardship.
French President EMMANUEL MACRON and Irish Prime
Minister LEO VARADKAR said separately
last week they would move to veto a landmark European Union trade deal brokered
with South American bloc Mercosur unless Brazil takes action to protect
the rainforest.
The pact requires the Latin American giant to abide by the Paris climate
accord, which BOLSONARO has threatened to leave, and also aims to end illegal
deforestation, including in the Brazilian Amazon.
 |
In the last half-century alone, nearly 20 percent of the Amazon
rainforest has disappeared [Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters]
Source: ALJAZEERA; by David Child; 27
Aug 2019
|
In a bid to assist efforts to protect the forest, G7 countries on
Monday agreed to provide more than $20m to help fight the fires. Canada and the UK pledged an
additional $11m and $12m of aid respectively.
The initiative was announced by Macron and Chilean President SEBASTIAN PINERA, who was invited to
join the annual summit.
"We must respond to the call of the forest which is burning today
in the Amazon," MACRON
said.
PINERA said the initiative would be implemented in two phases.
"Countries
urgently need firefighters and specialised water bombers. This will be the
first step that will be implemented immediately. The second phase is to protect
these forests, protect the biodiversity they contain and reforest this region
of the world," he said.
Brazil's government said it would reject the funding, however, with BOLSONARO having previously suggested
the idea of creating an international alliance to save the Amazon
constituted an attack on the country's sovereignty.
Norway and
Germany earlier this month halted millions of dollars of Amazon protection
subsidies to the Amazon Fund, accusing Brazil of turning its back on the fight
against deforestation.
Meanwhile, social media users
around the world latched on to #PrayForAmazonia
and #PrayForAmazon, pushing the
topic towards the top of Twitter's global trends.
 |
A protester cries as he holds a placard reading 'SOS' during a
demonstration against the deforestation in the Amazon and the government's
environmental policies [Odd Andersen/AFP]
Source: ALJAZEERA; by David Child; 27
Aug 2019
|
Public demonstrations also took place in several major Brazilian cities
last weekend, mirroring protests held elsewhere around the world.
"The outpouring of concern, grief and anger is unprecedented - what
this is creating is a lasting impression for people that the Amazon is
absolutely essential to our future and we all have a responsibility to protect
it, contrary to what BOLSONARO may
say," POIRIER said.
"But we can't allow ourselves to fall into despair, there's no
other way, we have to act - we have a responsibility to ourselves, to future
generations and to other beings on this planet, are of which are suffering
today as a result of this chaos."
 |
Source: ALJAZEERA; by David Child; 27
Aug 2019
|
Murder in the Amazon: Brazil's
natives under threat
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA NEWS
MORE
ON BRAZIL
by Marwan
Bishara
[2] AL JAZEERA: BRAZIL'S AMAZON IS BURNING: 'SOME FAMILIES LOST EVERYTHING'
[22aug2019]
Indigenous families fight to save their homes and land as fires rage on
in parts of Brazil's Amazon.
Source:
AL JAZEERA; by Mia Alberti; 22 Aug 2019
Access
RAS 2019-10-01
 |
Zonalia Santos and her neighbours in the state of
Rondonia work to keep fires from spreading to their homes and crops [Courtesy
of Zonalia Santos]
Source: AL JAZEERA; by Mia Alberti;
22 Aug 2019
|
For the past two weeks, ZONALIA
SANTOS and her neighbours have spent their days trying to save their houses
and crops from the large forest fires in the western Brazilian state of
Rondonia.
SANTOS lives in a settlement with 35 other families and although they managed
to save their homes, she tells Al Jazeera "the fire touched almost everything
else".
"We spent the whole day fighting the fire ourselves, but it took
pastures, bushes, cacao crops, wood, nuts or acai berries," she says.
Santos and her family depend on growing cacao to produce chocolate, from
which they make about $100 a month. She says they were lucky that the fire did not get to their crops,
but "some families lost everything".
"The
damage is irreversible. At some point, when we were putting out the fire, we
started crying because it is so sad that we protect so much to then see
everything destroyed by a fire," she says.
Brazil's
northern and western regions have experienced an 83 percent increase in the
number of fires in the first eight months of 2019 compared with the same time
period last year, according to Brazil's space research centre INPE. Its
satellite system detected 72,843 fires
in the region this year.
The states of Amazonas, Rondonia,
Acre, Para and Mato Grosso do Sul were some of the most affected, and most
of the burning happens inside the Amazon rainforest. In just a week, 9,507 new fires
were detected in the world's biggest rainforest, commonly referred to as the
"planet's lung".
A thick cloud of smoke travelled across the continent, forcing flights
to be cancelled and many to be hospitalised due to respiratory problems. In Sao Paulo, residents were
surprised when they saw the sky turn dark in the middle of the day, although
the city is 2,500km away from the origin of the fires.
The state of Amazonas declared an emergency in its capital of Manaus on
August 9 and the state of Acre, bordering Peru, also put out an environmental
alert on August 16.
Online, thousands used #PrayForAmazonia to denounce the fires, which
many say are consequences of President JAIR BOLSONARO's
anti-environmental policies.
 |
Laura Is A Kiwi@LauraJaber
This is São Paulo at 4 p.m., completely dark. Solar eclipse? No, it's
the black smoke covering the city from the burning Amazon. It has been
burning for 3 WEEKS. The Amazon forest
provides the earth with 20% of oxygen, and now that 20% is gone.#PrayforAmazonas
Source: AL JAZEERA; by Mia Alberti;
22 Aug 2019
|
START OF THE FIRES
On Wednesday, BOLSONARO
responded to claims he was "setting the Amazon aflame", noting the
country is going through its dry season and claiming the fires "could have
been set by NGOs" to damage his administration, an accusation
environmental groups rejected. A day later,
he attempted to clarify his remarks, saying he did not claim non-governmental
organisations started the fires, he only suspected it, and that his government
lacked the resources to fight the blazes.
RICARDO
SALLES, the minister for the environment said on Twitter that "dry
weather, wind and heat caused the increase in fires across the country".
Researchers
from INPE, however, have rejected the government's claim, saying that this
year's dry conditions in the Amazon were not "abnormal" and were not
to blame for the enormous fires.
"The dry season creates favourable conditions for the use and
spread of fire, but starting a fire is the work of humans, either deliberately
or by accident," INPE researcher ALBERTO SETZER told Reuters news agency.
ANE
ALENCAR, director of science in the Amazon
Environmental Research Institute (IPAM), tells Al Jazeera the record-high
number of fires are actually connected with an increase in deforestation.
"We are
not going to an extreme event of drought at the moment, we are seeing a very
normal dry season. So what's different is that we are seeing more deforestation
and that causes more fire because the forest is more fragile, fragmented and
sensible," she tells
Al Jazeera over the phone.
 |
In this
August 20, 2019, drone photo released by the Corpo de Bombeiros de Mato Grosso, brush fires burn in Guaranta do Norte municipality, Mato
Grosso state, Brazil [Handout/Corpo de Bombeiros de Mato Grosso/AP Photo]
Source: AL JAZEERA; by Mia Alberti;
22 Aug 2019
|
According to
the Brazilian newspaper Folha do Progresso, the fires started on August 10 when
an association of farmers in the state of Para announced a so-called "day
of fire". The idea, according to the publication, was to coordinate a
number of simultaneous fires to show BOLSONARO
"they are ready to work". On that day, 124 new
fires were registered by INPE and the next day 203 more were flagged. The
Public Prosecutor in the State of Para has opened an investigation into the
incident.
'I BLAME THE GOVERNMENT FOR THIS'
BOLSONARO has not shied away from marketing his pro-business vision for the
Amazon, saying multiple times he supports opening the rainforest for mining and
agriculture exploration. He is also
outspoken about his anti-indigenous views, having said he would not
"demarcate one centimetre more of native reserves" during his
presidency.
"The situation here is terrible, from fires to invasions of
indigenous lands and I blame the government for this," says Ivaneide
Bandeira, who is part of the Kaninde Association, which works to protect the
environment and native groups in the state of Rondonia.
She tells Al Jazeera the "weather is constantly dark", "hospitals
are filled with people with respiratory problems" and "all indigenous
reserves in the state have been affected". She says she also wakes up in the
middle of the night struggling to breathe.
"The situations is a thousand times worse than in prior years, you
can't even compare it," she says. "The criminals are
strengthened by this government's words that they can burn, deforest and
destroy the Amazon, while the administration weakens environmental protections
and authorities."
The Karipuna
indigenous reserve is one of the many affected. ADRIANO KARIPUNA, who is part of the Karipuna tribe's
leadership, tells Al Jazeera that many of his relatives are suffering from
"irritated throats, red eyes, cough and even the flu" because of all
the smoke.
"My
village still depends on hunting and fishing, now all the animals are running
away and if we continue to lose trees, our river will eventually die," he says.
 |
Residents in the state of Rondonia work to keep fires from spreading
to their homes and crops [Courtesy of Zonalia Santos]
Source: AL JAZEERA; by Mia Alberti;
22 Aug 2019
|
The most recent fires have entered at least 32 natural reserves and 36
indigenous lands, according to INPE. In the last few days, occasional rains
gave some rest to the residents in nearby towns but the fear is far from over,
says SANTOS in the state of Rondonia
SANTOS and her neighbours continue to monitor their land for any piece of
incandescent wood or flying sparks that could start their nightmare once again.
"We
can't breath because of the smoke and we can't sleep because we are afraid.
Everywhere else is on fire, there is nowhere else to go," Santos says.
"It's such a feeling of revolt because we know someone is to blame behind
this."
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA NEWS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Mia Alberti
READ MORE
##################################
AVISO AOS NAVEGANTES! Internet civilizada:
NOTAS DO EDITOR do Blog Ronald.Arquiteto e do Facebook
Ronald Almeida Silva:
[1] As palavras e
números entre [colchetes]; os destaques sublinhados, em negrito e
amarelo
bem como nomes próprios em CAIXA ALTA
e a numeração de parágrafos – se
presentes nos textos ora publicados - NÃO CONSTAM da edição original
deste documento (mensagem, artigo; pesquisa; monografia; dissertação; tese ou
reportagem). Os
mencionados adendos ortográficos foram acrescidos meramente com intuito
pedagógico de facilitar a leitura, a compreensão e a captação mnemônica dos
fatos mais relevantes da mensagem por um espectro mais amplo de leitores de
diferentes formações, sem prejuízo do conteúdo cujo texto está transcrito na
íntegra, conforme a versão original.
[2] O Blog Ronald Arquiteto e o Facebook RAS são mídias independentes e 100% sem fins
lucrativos pecuniários. Não tem anunciantes, apoiadores, patrocinadores e
nem intermediários. Todas as
publicações de textos e imagens são feitas de boa-fé, respeitando-se as
autorias e respectivos direitos autorais, sempre com base no espírito e nexo
inerentes à legislação brasileira, em especial à LEI-LAI – Lei de Acesso à Informação nº 12.257, de 18nov2011. O
gestor das mídias RAS nunca teve e não tem filiação partidária e nem exerce
qualquer tipo de militância político-partidária.
[3] A eventual republicação de
matérias de sites e blogs que vedam a retransmissão de suas publicações deve
ser considerada como ato proativo não doloso de desobediência civil (tipo Soft
Wikileak) em favor da Transparência Total e da Melhor Democracia na comunicação
privada e pública, no espírito e com base na LEI-LAI, visando apenas ampliar o
universo de internautas que buscam informações gratuitas na rede mundial.
[4] Para usuários de
correio eletrônico - e-mail, Facebook e blog: O Emitente desta mensagem é responsável pelas opiniões de
sua autoria, mas não se responsabiliza pelo conteúdo elaborado por terceiros,
embora tenha agido com zelo e descortino na seleção de textos e imagens que
reproduz nas mídias citadas, evitando propagar fakes e informações injuriosas
ou ilegais. Cabe ao Destinatário cuidar quanto ao tratamento e destino
adequados da mensagem recebida, respeitando sempre as normas do marco
regulatório brasileiro da internet. Caso a pessoa que recebeu esta mensagem não
seja o Destinatário de fato da mesma, solicitamos devolvê-la ao Remetente e
apagá-la posteriormente. Agradecemos a compreensão e a colaboração de todos
quanto ao uso correto, ético e civilizado das mensagens e documentos tramitados
por meios eletrônicos.
RONALD DE ALMEIDA SILVA
Rio
de Janeiro, RJ, 02jun1947; reside em São Luís, MA, Brasil desde 1976.
Arquiteto
Urbanista FAU-UFRJ 1969-1972.
Especialização em Desenho Urbano e Planejamento Regional (Universidade
de Edimburgo, Escócia, 1981-83).
Registro
profissional (1972-2012 = 40 anos) CREA-RJ 21.900-D
Registro
profissional (2013 em diante) CAU-BR A.107.150-5
Ouvidor
Nacional das Competições da CBF (2003-2012)
Inspetor
do GT e da CNIE - Comissão Nacional de Inspeção de Estádios da CBF (2004-2012)
e-mail: ronald.arquiteto@gmail.com
Blog Ronald.Arquiteto (ronalddealmeidasilva.blogspot.com)
Facebook ronaldealmeida.silva.1
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário