In 2024, Brazil experienced a year of record deforestation due to fires.
With heat waves and a prolonged drought in much of the country, firesgained ground and destroyed like never before. Climate change, the
Brazilian agro-export model and the farce of "green capitalism" defended
by the government and a sector of the agricultural sector have proven
that, depending on those at the top, living conditions on Earth can
become unsustainable while they profit.
In the first nine months of the year, 22.4 million hectares were burned,
an area comparable to the size of the state of Roraima. An increase of
150% compared to the same period last year, according to the MapBiomas
Fire Monitor.
All these fires and the dry weather affected the climate in a large part
of the country, especially between the months of August and September.
States such as Goiás, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, São Paulo and
Paraná had record temperatures for September, in some regions exceeding
40 degrees. According to the National Institute of Meteorology, it was
the hottest September in the country since measurements began, 63 years
ago. The lack of rain and the fires also affected air quality in part of
the North and Center-South regions of the country. The Federal District
went more than 150 days without rain.
Fires in the Amazon, Cerrado and Pantanal
Around 50% of all the burned area in the country is in the Amazon, the
biome most affected by the fire. Half were forests, and another 33% were
pastures. The North Region has been experiencing extreme droughts in
recent years, which aggravates the situation in the biome. In the
Cerrado, 80% of the fires were on private properties and indigenous
territories, according to the Amazon Environmental Research Institute.
The municipalities with the largest fires are in the regions bordering
the Amazon and in "Matopiba", and environmentalists draw attention to
the problem of the expansion of agricultural frontiers, with the advance
of agribusiness. Illegal mining is another threat, destroying native
vegetation and causing strong impacts on the region.
The Pantanal was most severely affected: between January and September,
the burned area was 2,306% larger than the average of the previous five
years - a record 1.5 million hectares consumed by fire. Researchers
indicate that the biome may cease to exist by the middle of the century.
The Pantanal is threatened by the degradation of the Amazon itself, as
it is irrigated by the so-called "flying rivers", a phenomenon resulting
from the humidity of the forest, which helps to balance the climate in
the Center-South of the country. The fires and agribusiness
It is impossible to separate the fires in the biomes, the extreme
droughts, the heat waves, the strong storms in different regions (and
other climate consequences) from the Brazilian economic model.
Agribusiness, which concentrates land in the hands of a few, produces
commodities to sell abroad - its main partner is China, which buys 1/3
of the products exported by the sector.
The economic success of this model encourages the expansion of the
agricultural frontier to the North and Northeast, and deforestation by
fire is the first process of preparing the land for overexploitation. It
strengthens an increasingly reactionary political-partisan system, which
encroachs on the rights of indigenous peoples and traditional
communities, in addition to destroying Nature itself.
In the Center-West, it is worth highlighting Mato Grosso, the main
agribusiness state, and also where there was the greatest deforestation:
25% of the area burned in the country, according to MapBiomas. The main
producer of soybeans and corn, it destroys the Cerrado and Pantanal and
persecutes indigenous and peasant movements that make more ecological
use of the land. The capital Cuiabá records historical temperature
records in Brazil.
In the state of São Paulo, most of the fires this year were in
agricultural areas, according to MapBiomas. The cases were recorded
especially in sugarcane plantations, which is the main product exported
by the state. The fire spread to several regions and approached
conservation areas in Greater São Paulo. After weeks of drought, the
population also experienced the so-called "black rain", when water
joined the pollution that hung in the air for several days.
Lots of talk and little action
The speeches of the Lula-Alckmin government about defending the
environment and fighting fires seem weak when we come face to face with
the reality of the fires. Fires have been breaking records in the
country since the beginning of the year, and it was expected that the
situation would worsen in the dry season. The federal government itself
admitted that the efforts were insufficient to deal with the problem.
At a time when climate concerns are gaining new urgency, with
catastrophes in several regions of the world, Brazil will host the 30th
UN Climate Conference next year. But the government continues with its
policy of encouraging fossil fuels, which is expected to increase carbon
emissions by more than 20% by 2050, according to the Climate
Observatory. The truth is that the capitalist-statist system is the
great machine that expands on the destruction of Nature, and thus makes
various forms of life unsustainable. And Brazil's role on the
international scene helps to structure the ruling classes around
agribusiness and mining, destroying the environment and attacking the
rights of indigenous people, peasants and traditional populations. The
State and capitalism are partners in the destruction of life, therefore,
to save life, both must be destroyed, advancing a project of
self-managed popular power that destroys domination and exploitation,
and prioritizes the defense of all forms of life, and not the profit of
a few.
https://socialismolibertario.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Libera_181_set_dez__2024.pdf
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