Droughts exacerbate forest fire crisis in Brazil
Environmentalists in Brasilia blame the expansion of agribusiness for the worst drought in 44 years. teleSUR
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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.