The figures show an 83 percent increase in comparison to the same period in 2018, representing the highest number of blazes since the agency began collecting such data in 2013, Reuters reported.
According to the data, the most forest fires this year, as of August 2, occurred in the state of Mato Grosso where a total of 8,799 blazes were reported—an increase of 39 percent from 2018, Euronews reported. The number of fires has also spiked in the state of Pará.
In the past weeks, significant fires have ravaged the Brazilian state of Rondônia—located on the border with Bolivia. These, along with others in the region, created dense plumes of smoke that spread far across the state and beyond, endangering the health of people living in the area and the lives of animals, Painel Politico reported.
Some meteorologists have even suggested that the fires in Rondônia may have been partly responsible for blotting out the sun in the city of São Paulo on Monday afternoon, which lies more than 1,500 miles away from the state, the BBC reported.
“The smoke did not come from fires from the state of São Paulo, but from very dense and wide fires that have been going on for several days in Rondônia and Bolivia. The cold front changed the direction of the winds and transported this smoke to São Paulo,” Josélia Pegorim, a meteorologist from Climatempo, told Globo. “Here in the Greater São Paulo region we had the combination of this excess humidity with the smoke, so it gave this appearance in the sky.”
Last month, Bolsonaro criticized data collected by INPE, which indicated that there had been a significant rise in deforestation rates recently. Notably, the figures showed that in July this year, deforestation had increased nearly 300 percent in comparison to the same month in 2018.
The president accused the agency of making up “lies” that could hurt the country’s trade talks and subsequently fired its chief, replacing him with a military official.
Environmentalists are becoming increasingly concerned with the administration of President Bolsonaro, accusing the government of encouraging deforestation and emboldening those who want to exploit the forest for commercial gain.
During his time in power, Bolsonaro has moved to weaken government agencies that are responsible for protecting the rainforest, as well as regulations covering indigenous lands and nature reserves.
However, experts are warning that increasing rates of deforestation are pushing the rainforest closer and closer to a “tipping point” beyond which it will not be able to recover.
