South America Ablaze
9/9/99
OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY by forests.org
Sorry to be in such a rut, but here is another forest fire horror
story--South America is ablaze. Where are the news stories? Guess
not very important, huh?
g.b.
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: South America Ablaze
Source: Environment News Service
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: September 3, 1999
BRASILIA, Brazil, September 3, 1999 (ENS) - Forest and brush fires by
the thousands are burning in western Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, and
Paraguay. These countries are now in the midst of the winter dry
season, and farmers clearing fields for cotton, cane and other crops
have set most of the fires.
Brazil's National Space Research Institute said their satellite had
sighted 1,770 wildfires over the states of Mato Grosso and Mato
Grosso do Sul during the past week, up from 270 wildfires in the same
region in July.
Brazil's Energy Mininister Rodolfo Tourinho said the fires have
damaged some electrical transmission lines.
In Peru, a fire is destroying vast areas of the natural reserve of
the Manu people, in the Peruvian forest. Fire fighting officials in
the zone have redoubled their efforts to choke the flames.
The fire originated Thursday in the sector of Akanaku, located in
route from access to the National Park of the Manu. This park is
located 570 kilometres (353 miles) east of Lima. The cause of the
fire is unknown.
Manu National Park,one of the main tourist attractions of Peru, is an
ecosystem of great wealth in fauna and wild flora in the heart of the
Peruvian Amazon forest on the western slopes of the Andes Mountains.
The Brazilian Institute for Environment and Natural Resources
(IBAMA) says most of the fires in Brazil must be seen in the context
of intensive land development. Fire is used as a tool in forest
conversion. This is done by small farmers as well as large agro-
industrial companies.
The careless use of fire often allows the "prescribed" burnings to
escape and become forest fires in the adjacent forests. These
wildfires are of global importance because they threaten global
biodiversity as well as the livelihood and cultural identity of the
indigenous people in Amazonia, IBAMA says.
Almost all fires in the Amazon Region are human-caused, natural fires
play a minor role in the tropical rain forest of Brazil and
neighbouring countries. In the seasonally dry forests and bush
formations (cerrado) lightning fires are observed only occasionally.
Government officials are tracking down those responsible for the
fires, but they have little money and only six helicopters to cover
the whole of central Brazil.
A plane on loan from the United States, loaded with digital cameras
and thermal sensors flew in Wednesday to provide exact data on areas
devastated by fires and illegal logging, even when visibility is low
due to smoke.
IBAMA says that Proarco - Program of Prevention and Control to the
Forest fires and Forest Fires in the Arc of the Deforestation - was
created in last July with US$ 25.9 million from the World Bank and
the Brazilian government. The action came in response to the biggest
forest fire ever in Brazil in the State of Roraima in March 1998.
The government's main action to avoid fire disasters involved
prevention, then a combat strategy involving the Secretariat of
Regional Politics, IBAMA, the Body of Firemen of the Federal
District, the Army and the Division of Aeronautics.
But the government campaign highlighting the dangers of setting
unsupervised fires during the dry season has been ignored by most
people.
In Bolivia, a rural celebration meant to prepare the land for next
year's harvest triggered fires across two provinces. The government
declared Guarayos and Moxos provinces "national disaster areas" last
week. With winds gusting at 100 kilometres per hour, the fire spread
quickly across 100,000 hectares.
According to early estimates, 650 homes were destroyed. Nearly
3,000 people are sleeping in makeshift shelters, suffering from cold
and hunger.
c Environment News Service (ENS)