The Amazon is on fire and its burning at an unprecedented rate. The National Institute for Space Research, or Inpe, said its satellite data shows an 84 percent increase from this time last year, citing that nearly 370 square miles had been lost in June alone.
The fires are an apparent result of deforestation and drought, and some people and organizations are blaming President Jair Bolsonaro, who took office only this past January. Scientists and conservationists alike claim that he has encouraged logging and the expansion of farmlands and that the losses the Amazon is experiencing have only accelerated since he assumed office.
Ricardo Mello, head of the World Wide Fund for Nature Amazon Program, told the BBC that the fires were "a consequence of the increase in deforestation seen in recent figures."
Criticism of the Brazilian president is coming from various platforms and outlets, trending on Twitter, #PrayforAmazonia, has been used to directly criticize Bolsonaro's environmental policies and his apparent inaction on the fires.
NASA has also chimed in, stating that the Amazon has always been somewhat resistant to forest fires due to damp and humid conditions and that "[...] droughts and human activities are causing wildfires."
"The intensity and frequency of droughts in turn, have been linked with increases in regional deforestation and anthropogenic climate change," the release from NASA said.
While wildfires are seasonal in Brazil, some blazes are set intentionally in order to clear land for cattle ranching.
More than 74,000 fires have been detected by Inpe just this year, the highest recorded number in six years and nearly 10,000 fires have been observed since Thursday, the BBC reports.
Satellite images show heavy smoke coverage over parts of Brazil and neighboring countries, with some regions declaring state emergencies due to the fires.
Mr. Bolsonaro was said to have ignored the most recent data, claiming that it is the "season of the queimada", the time when farmers will use fire to clear their respective land. "I used to be called Captain Chainsaw. Now I am Nero, setting the Amazon aflame," he was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.
However, Inpe has reported that the number of fires in the Amazon right now could not be compared to previous dry seasons. "There is nothing abnormal about the climate this year or the rainfall in the Amazon region, which is just a little below average," Inpe researcher Alberto Setzer told Reuters.
"The dry season creates the favorable conditions for the use and spread of fire, but starting a fire is the work of humans, either deliberately or by accident."
