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Brazil is burning, and life is under threat

Brazil on fire. (Nicole Luna/YJI Created on Canva.)

Maringá, BRAZIL – “It’s so hot, I’m cooking!” is a common complaint in Brazil.

Brazil is a tropical country, so Brazilians are used to warm weather, but not to the extremes they are experiencing now.

In Maringá, temperatures are erratic. One day it’s 15°C, and the next, it’s 30°C in the same week. Air humidity is low due to scarce rainfall.

According to the National Center for Monitoring and Early Warnings of Natural Disasters, 58% of the country is facing extreme drought conditions. The institution provided three main reasons that explain the current situation.

“The drought is caused by a combination of factors, such as the weak previous rainy season due to the El Niño phenomenon, which reduced precipitation and did not adequately replenish soil moisture or river levels, and an early and more intense dry season, worsened by the lack of rain since May, leaving the soil and vegetation extremely dry,” said the Center.

“Additionally, climate change and the replacement of forests with agricultural areas contribute to reduced moisture and an increase in the frequency of rainless days, intensifying the drought.”

According to MapBiomas, a Brazilian research center focused on environmental preservation, agricultural land has increased by 228% and pastureland by 79% since 1985.

“The latest wildfires aren’t natural,” said climate expert Professor Francisco Mendonça, who teaches at State University of Rio de Janeiro and at Federal University of Paraná. He was also president of the Brazilian Climatology Association and International Climatology Association.

Professor Francisco Mendonça gives a speech at the State University of Maringá about the impacts of climate change in Brazil, on October 10th. (Nicole Luna/YJI)

Mendonça recently spoke about the impact of climate change on Brazil at the State University of Maringá. 

The nonprofit MapBiomas found that the influence of agricultural interests has spread to 60% of Brazilian municipalities.

These climate conditions have intensified the occurrence of wildfires, which are burning vast areas of Brazilian forests, including the Amazon Rainforest, Cerrado, Pantanal, and Mata Atlântica — from North to South — creating a “barrier” to humidity.

“The loss of native vegetation in Brazilian biomes tends to negatively impact regional climate dynamics and reduces the protective effect during extreme weather events. In summary, it represents an increase in climate risks,” said Tasso Azevedo, general coordinator of MapBiomas, in a press release posted on its website.

The situation is so critical that smoke is adding to pollution in São Paulo. According to Forbes, the metropolis has recently ranked among the most polluted cities in the world.

“Most of the wildfires in the State of São Paulo started in agricultural lands, mainly in sugar cane fields,” said Natália Crusco, coordinator of the technical team at MapBiomas, in the press release.

The fires are also impacting neighboring countries, such as Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay, which have declared states of emergency.

Life in the forests, as well as outside of them, is under threat.

According to the National Conference of Municipalities, wildfires are affecting more than 10 million people across Brazil.

The smoke from wildfires almost hides a solar eclipse, but it ended up intensifying the sun’s color. (Nicole Luna/YJI)

The facts are alarming, but Brazilian politicians have been more focused on recent state election debates than on discussing effective measures to control the wildfires.

“Despite 98% of Brazilians being concerned about climate change, they don’t consider this crisis when voting for a politician,” said Rodrigo Iacovini, a Ph.D. in urban management and director at the Póli Institute, a Brazilian nonprofit aimed at developing fairer, more democratic, and sustainable cities, in an interview with the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo.

Natural disasters cannot be controlled, but politicians undoubtedly have the tools to prepare for them. And people have a meaningful impact when voting and choosing someone to represent them.

If nothing is done, not only will Brazil’s weather get messier, but so will the rest of the world’s.

“Either the system changes, or I don’t know what the outcome will be. What’s coming could be very awful, or it might not be. But I want to believe it won’t be as terrible as they’re predicting,” Mendonça, the professor, told students in Maringá.

Nicole Luna is a Correspondent with Youth Journalism International.  

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