Thick smoke is rolling across most of Brazil as the Amazon is hit by the worst wildfires in two decades. Thousands of acres are burning out of control due to extreme temperatures, illegal logging and the drying out of the rainforests.

The Amazon rainforest is experiencing an unprecedented surge in wildfires, casting doubt on international commitments to protect the region and highlighting the ongoing struggle between conservation efforts and economic interests.

2024 marks the worst year for Amazon fires in two decades. The Brazilian Amazon registered a 76% increase in fire hotspots from 2023 during the same seven-month period (January-July), the Rainforest Foundation US reports.

Despite promises from global environmental leaders, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has continued to support cattle ranchers, who are often implicated in illegal deforestation and the destruction of the forest for agricultural use.

In southern Amazonas smoke has been intensifying, as fires ravage one of the world’s most critical ecosystems – the so-called “lungs of the world.”

According to Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE), nearly 25,000 fire hotspots were detected through July 2024, the highest number recorded for this period since 2005. The situation escalated dramatically in July, with 11,434 hotspots reported – an increase of 98% compared to the same month in the previous year. On July 30 alone, 1,348 fires were recorded in a single day.

The fires are not limited to Brazil; neighbouring countries in the Amazon basin are also facing unprecedented fire activity. Bolivia registered approximately 17,700 fire points from January to July 2024, the highest ever recorded for that period. Venezuela, Guyana and Suriname have also seen a significant rise in fires over the first seven months of the year.

The Brazilian Amazon, which saw a dramatic increase in fires in 2023, with at least 26.4mn acres (10.7mn hectares) burned, is now facing an even more critical situation in 2024. The fires in 2023 represented a 35.4% increase on the previous year, with most of the damage occurring in the final months of that year. This year's data points to a worsening crisis, underscoring the urgent need for immediate and effective action.

A recent study, in "Nature Ecology & Evolution", revealed that the frequency and intensity of severe wildfires worldwide have doubled over the last two decades due to climate change. The analysis highlights significant fires like those in Australia in 2019 and 2020, unprecedented in their size and intensity. Since 2017, the six most extreme fire years have occurred, indicating a clear trend exacerbated by climate change.

Instead of being a carbon sink, forest fires have become a major contributor to the emission of CO₂ as burning wood converts carbon captured over decades back into the climate warming gas. Global wildfires have pumped out four times more CO₂ in the last year than the entire aviation sector and forests have become a net contributor to emissions.

Deforesting the Amazon

The fragile state of the Amazon is in danger, often referred to as one of the last defences against climate catastrophe. The loss of biodiversity, including some of the world’s most unique species of birds and wildlife, is almost incidental to the fact that what should be a carbon sink has turned into a net contributor to GHGs as carbon trapped in the blanket of trees is converted back into CO2 and released to the atmosphere by the fires.

Since Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took over there has been some progress. Around 2005, the pace of deforestation in the Amazon slowed from 20,000 square kilometres per year to 5,000 square kilometres. It rose again during Jair Bolsonaro’s presidency between 2019 and 2022, but dropped to less than 10,000 square kilometres in 2023 as Bolsonaro’s successor, Lula da Silva, bolstered enforcement.

However, slowing the pace of tree felling is not the same as saving the forests. The nature of the terrain is changing as the Amazon dries out. Roughly 5% of the Amazon is no longer suitable for rainforest at all and is turning into other landscapes such as savannah or drier forests, Bloomberg reports. Those impacts are felt disproportionately by Indigenous people, who depend on the ecosystems damaged by deforestation and don’t benefit from its economic activity.

The indigenous peoples that live in the rainforests have long been recognised as the most effective stewards and are central to the fight against this environmental disaster, but they have become increasingly powerless to stop illegal logging and industrial agricultural companies moving in for profit.

Research shows that rainforests managed by Indigenous communities have fewer and cooler fires, greater carbon density and higher levels of biodiversity compared to state-managed forests. The Rainforest Foundation US (RFUS) argues that securing and expanding land rights for Indigenous peoples is one of the most effective strategies for protecting the Amazon from the myriad threats it faces, including fires, illegal logging, mining and industrial-scale ranching.

Several factors are contributing to the escalation of fires in the Amazon, including drier conditions linked to climate change and intensified by the El Niño phenomenon. The year 2023 was the hottest ever recorded globally, and June 2024 marked the thirteenth consecutive month of record global temperatures, further exacerbating the forest's vulnerability to fires. A historic drought in 2023 also contributed to the spread of flames through native vegetation, with low river levels in the region hampering firefighting efforts and rendering Indigenous and riverside communities inaccessible.

The destruction is exacerbated by human activities. In recent decades, deforestation driven by cattle ranching, agriculture, logging and illegal mining has led to an increase in fires. Trees felled for these purposes are left to dry before being set on fire, a practice that has become increasingly dangerous due to prolonged droughts in the Amazon. These fires, once contained by the surrounding moist forest, are now spreading uncontrollably into primary forests, destroying thousands of acres.

The Amazon is also facing a lesser-known but equally destructive threat: the deforestation of balsa wood in Ecuador, driven by the global demand for wind turbine blades as part of the transition to renewable energy. Ecuador, the world’s leading exporter of balsa wood, has seen a boom in demand since 2018, driven by the need to decarbonise the global economy. This demand has led to illegal logging and the destruction of virgin balsa trees, with devastating impacts on the Indigenous populations in the region.

Tipping point

Scientists warn that the Amazon rainforest could reach this critical 'tipping point' as soon as 2050. At this stage, the world’s largest tropical forest would become so fragmented that it would lose its ability to retain sufficient moisture, leading to a breakdown of the ecosystem with catastrophic consequences for the global climate and biodiversity.

Cameron Ellis, Field Science Director of the Rainforest Foundation US (RFUS), stressed the urgent need for a multifaceted approach to forest protection. "We know that reducing deforestation and supporting Indigenous and local communities’ fire brigades is effective in both preventing and mitigating the impact of fires. However, with the Amazon in an extended drought and quickly approaching a tipping point, the scale of these fires presents a very new type of threat to the region. Protecting forests and traditional fire management practices will need to be reinforced with more systematic state measures, including accountability, emergency response planning, and aerial fire suppression."

As the Amazon approaches this critical threshold, the actions taken by governments, NGOs and local communities over the next few years will be crucial in determining the fate of this irreplaceable ecosystem. The survival of the Amazon is not just a regional issue but a global imperative, with implications for climate stability, biodiversity and human survival.