Droughts exacerbate forest fire crisis in Brazil

Environmentalists in Brasilia blame the expansion of agribusiness for the worst drought in 44 years. teleSUR

Transcript

00:00In the Brazilian Midwest, the worst drought in decades is exacerbating a forest fire crisis.

00:05Our correspondent Brian Meir has more.

00:08During the last six weeks, man-made forest fires caused by agribusiness actors clearing land for cattle pasture

00:16have raged across Brazil.

00:18To make things worse, in many of the hardest-hit areas, it hasn't rained for months,

00:22facilitating the spread of the fires.

00:25In the national capital of Brasilia, it hasn't rained for 150 days, representing its worst drought in 44 years.

00:35There are regular droughts during this time of the year in Midwestern Brazil,

00:40but this year it is much worse than normal, not just here, but across the whole country,

00:45and this is connected to deepening climate change and changes in land use,

00:50which is mainly connected to an expansion of agribusiness.

00:55According to data from Mapa Biomas, agribusiness is responsibly for 97% of the destruction of native vegetation in Brazil

01:04during the last five years.

01:08Brazil is one of the world's largest producers of two interrelated commodities that require huge amounts of water,

01:14beef and soy, which is mainly used to feed cattle.

01:18Production of both commodities is causing massive deforestation in the Amazon rainforest

01:24and in the Midwest, a region of tropical savannah with unique flora and fauna

01:29which is rapidly disappearing due to consumers in the US, China and Europe's taste for Brazilian beef.

01:38This historic drought is the culmination of many years of the destruction of over half of the vegetation in this fantastic biome of the Cerrado.

01:48So, now we see that the start of the rainy season takes place over 30 days later than it used to.

01:54The average temperature has risen by over 1.5 degrees Celsius in the region,

02:00and annual rainfall has dropped by 8%.

02:04We see that these are primarily the effects of the conversion of native vegetation by agribusiness.

02:12On Sunday, September 15th, a huge forest fire started in Brasilia National Park in the middle of the Federal District.

02:21Brian Muir, TELUSUR, Brasilia.