More than 16.3 million hectares were burned in Brazil between January and December 2022, according to data from the Fire Monitor, released this Tuesday (31) by MapBiomas, a network of organizations that monitor burned areas in the country. Of the total, 2.8 million hectares burned were forests. Most of the fires affected native vegetation, with 25.9% of savanna formations and 17.1% of forests. The Amazon was the most affected last year. Almost half of the total area burned in the country was in the biome, equivalent to 7.9 million hectares. Of the total area burned in the biome, 70% occurred in the months of August, September and October. In December 2022, when it is not common for fires to occur in the Amazon, the biome recorded the largest area burned in the country, with 234,700 hectares, an increase of 101% compared to the previous month. According to MapBiomas, half of the fires in the Amazon occurred in pastures. Fire is the fastest and cheapest way to clear a deforested area. The relationship is direct, the higher the deforestation rate, the greater the use of fire in the region, according to MapBiomas. The Cerrado appears as the second most impacted biome, second only to the Amazon. Of all the area burned in the country, 45% were in the Cerrado (7.4 million hectares). The amount is equivalent to an increase of 18% compared to the previous year. The Pantanal had the smallest burned area in the last four years: 194,000 hectares. In 2022, the month with the highest record was September, with 64 thousand hectares consumed by fire. The decrease is related, according to MapBiomas, to the rains that alleviated the drought in the biome, despite the last flood having been registered in 2018.
Agência Brasil
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