The Amazon is dying, quickly

The fire in the Amazon rainforest continues to burn. For the past weeks, the rainforest had been burning continuously - resulting in more than 18 000 square kilometres of the forest being engulfed in flames.

NASA satellite image of the fire in mid-August

Deforestation rate was going down

This fire is not an act of nature, humid rainforests such as the Amazon rainforest do not catch fire easily unlike the dry vegetations in the US and Canada. It was set by humans - farmers and loggers who yearned to use this plot of land for their own use. Slash-and-burn involves first cutting down a massive amount of trees before leaving them to dry and burning them after that to create a rich deposit of nutrient-riched soil. However, clearly, these fires cannot be tamed and controlled easily and very often, these fires burn through the dense humid rainforest, creating more damage than the practice of slash-and-burn already had. Deforestation has always been a serious issue for the Amazon. From the 1970s to the 2000s, the annual loss of forested land varied between 10 000 to more than 20 000 square kilometres a year and years with El Niño droughts further exacerbated the situation.

Fortunately, deforestation rates were decreasing. With increasing international concern and pressure, the Brazillian government became taking greater steps towards fighting deforestation. From the mid-2000s onwards, the annual deforestation rate fell and by 2012, it was at about 20% the average rate from 1995-2006.

However, then came Jair Bolsonaro.

President Bolsonaro’s promise

As Bolsonaro was campaigning for presidency, he made it clear that he will make full use of the Amazon rainforest - its economic potential will be tapped. With that, upon his election into office, ranchers, farmers and loggers were encouraged to clear land in the rainforest for their use. Without the fear of legal actions against them, these people slash-and-burned freely.

Meanwhile, the Brazilian Environmental Agency (IBAMA) and the Chico Mendes Institute (ICMBio), linked to the Ministry of Environment faced cuts in human resources with higher-ranking officials targeted. IBAMA lost 21 out of 27 state superintendents and 47 conservation units lost their directors. With the loss of the leadership structures in both agencies, their ability to function is crippled.

As a result, farmers are emboldened and beginning in early August, farmers from the state of Pará started to call for quiemada or day of fire on 10 August, leading to the current situation we are in.

Our loss

The Amazon is home to at least 40 000 plant species and several hundred mammal species, over a thousand bird species and many more (according to The Fate of the Amazonian Areas of Endemism), with possibly more yet to be discovered. This raging fire puts them in serious danger, not only killing a large number of animals but even pushing them to near extinction as many continue to be trapped in the inferno. As these animals die, the impact on the food chain and ecosystem will be tremendous. With smaller animals dead, larger carnivorous animals are unable to feed as well and many more will die as a result, further devastating the ecology of the rich Amazon rainforest. Aquatic animals are not free from the impact either as massive deforestation via fire will also cause their habitat to change and those unable to adapt quickly enough will find it hard to survive harsher conditions presented to them.

The “lungs of the Earth” is dying, as everyone puts is. The Amazon rainforest is a carbon sink, it takes in more carbon dioxide than it emits. Trees take in carbon dioxide through photosynthesis and emit oxygen. This lowers the amount of greenhouse gas we have in the atmosphere and hence, the Amazon is one of our greatest defence against global warming. However, this fire has clearly done otherwise as the fire has resulted in millions of tons of carbon dioxide being spewed into the atmosphere from the combustion of the trees. Even after the fire has been put out, the damage done will be irreversible for a long while as trees do not grow in a matter of months, they take years and until then, we will have to face the consequences of our actions.

Lastly, the Amazon rainforest is not just home to plants and wild animals, it is also home to humans, just like you and I. There are about 900 000 indigenous people in Brazil of which about half live in the Amazon rainforest. For years, their homes have been under threat by illegal loggers who not only take their land by force but also massacre their communities. Without a doubt, this fire has and will continue to rob these indigenous people of their land and ability to survive in the forest as their land is burned and their source of food diminishing rapidly. What is worse is that President Bolsonaro had promised that indigenous people will no longer have protected indigenous land to provide land for commercial use - to tapped into the economic potential of the forest.

"Not a centimetre will be demarcated either as an indigenous reserve or as a quilombola [territory for descendents of African slave communities" - President Bolsonaro

Though he said he meant "millimetre" instead of "centimetre" during an interview after this statement was made.

What’s next?

As the Brazilian government continues to fight the disaster, it is worth knowing that President Bolsanoro had initially rejected an aid of more than $20m from France as he felt insulted by President Macron’s comments on his handling of the Amazon issue. The rejection was rescinded later and the former had hinted on his government’s willingness to accept international aid. Brazil is unable to handle the situation alone and it knows it. The fire is beyond the imagination of any individual and Bolsonaro knows that how he handles it will definitely impact his public perception. Even if one does not care about climate change or the flora and fauna within the forest, we cannot forget that there are people living in the forest and we can put everything aside but we can never take human lives lightly, regardless of their perception of us. We have to save the rainforest right now, economic potential or not, we have to realise that our future depends not on how much we can use our resources because more importantly, it is on whether we can live to use it. Without the Amazon, we will be left with a more hopeless and dire future.

(Cover photo by Nareeta Martin)

By Eugene Goh