Phys.Org: Since January, 121,000 Forest Fires In Brazil, More Than Half In Amazon Basin

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Similar to the United States and Canada—where wildfires are typically caused by humans—the fires in the Amazon are nearly all man-made. These fires, however, are often deliberately set as part of slash-and-burn agriculture—a method of growing food in which farmers and cattle ranchers deliberately cut down and burn forestland to clear it for crops and livestock, according to Dr. Erin Sills, the Edwin F. Conger Professor and director of international programs in the Department of Forestry and Environmental.

"Slash-and-burn agriculture has been practiced for thousands of years in forests around the world, especially in the tropics," Sills said. "Farmers cut down trees at the end of the dry season and then burn them right before the rains start. This leaves a nutrient-rich layer of ash on the ground that provides fertilizer for crops."

For nearly two decades, Sills has studied the impacts of deforestation and climate change in the western Brazilian Amazon as a member of Connections Between Water and Rural Production—a consortium of university researchers funded by the National Science Foundation. Her research interests include markets and payments for non-timber forest benefits, forest-based livelihoods and economic development, international forest policy and sustainable forest management, deforestation and land use in the tropics, economic assessment of invasive species policies, and program evaluation with matching methods and panel data.

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Since Bolsonaro took office in January, his administration has reduced the budget of the country's environmental protection agency by 24 percent, fired the director of the National Institute for Space Research, and canceled a range of environmental fines. Brazil has lost more than 1,330 square miles of forest cover to development since Bolsonaro took office. "There's not a severe drought in the Amazon this year, so the fires seem to almost certainly be a result of the current political situation in Brazil," Sills said. "Landowners believe the government is going to stop enforcing environmental regulations, so they're setting fires without paying much attention to fire breaks or timing."

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https://phys.org/news/2019-10-amazon-rainforest.html