Farms with temporary license to use fire illegally burned forests in Roraima – Instituto Humanitas Unisinos

The state government authorized the use of fire within 55 farms for pasture management until February 10th. Among them, analysis of the InfoAmazonia detected that 19 properties continued burning areas inside and outside their limits after the deadline, setting fire to forests that should have been preserved. The release of the management of Antonio Denarium (PP) occurred during an intense drought and the most serious fire season ever recorded in Roraima, according to data from the Inpe.

The report is from Fabio Bishoppublished by InfoAmazonia, 18-04-2024.

At the beginning of this year, the government of Roraima authorized the use of fire in pasture management for 55 farms in the state. Farmers received approval to burn a total of 9,497 hectares (there is) until February 10, but the fires continued even after the authorization ended. A survey of the InfoAmazoniabased on analyzes of the Greenpeace and public information, detected 19 cases in which fires on these properties occurred outside the authorized period, in some cases until April 8, in recently deforested areas and in forests that should be preserved.

The authorization of the management of Roraimafrom the governor Anthony Denarium (PP), occurred in the midst of the most serious fire season ever recorded in the state. With the repercussion of the problem and the drought, on February 20, Governor Denarium backed down and suspended the use of fire in the state, preventing the renewal or issuance of new licenses. But the fires didn’t stop. Between January 1st and March 31st of this year, the monitoring system of the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) recorded 4,093 hot spots, the highest number since 1998. The main peak occurred on March 22, when 603 hot spots were recorded by the reference satellite (Aqua–Afternoon). The increase is 310% compared to the same quarter last year, when 997 outbreaks were registered.

More than half of the outbreaks (51%) of burned this year occurred in areas of primary forestsaccording to data from the Inpe, which, as they are dense and humid, should be less susceptible to fire. In February, Inpe issued a technical note, indicating that the increase in fires “is probably being influenced by the decrease in precipitation in the state, which presents values ​​below the historical average”. The region is under the influence of El Niño, which causes a more severe dry period above the equator. And, unlike other states in the Amazon Brazilian region, where the Amazonian summer ended in October, in Roraima it runs from December to April.

“We must remember that, last year, the crisis climate It was classified by scientists as the main cause of drought in the region. Not coincidentally, we have just come out of the hottest year recorded in history, 2023, and we are still facing intense effects from the phenomenon El Niño“, it says Romulo Baptistspokesperson for Greenpeace.

However, experts point out other factors of regional influence in Roraimawhich go beyond the El Niño and the global impact of climate change on the increase in fire records this year: among them, the logging illegal and the inappropriate use of fire for pasture management, as is the case of farms that continued to burn their areas even after the state authorization period.

“O fire in the dense forest area it is more difficult. One of the explanations is the direct relationship with nearby farms, which selectively remove wood and leave the forest thinner. As a result, more light enters and the substrate that is there dries out. When he sets fire to the pasture, the fire ends up reaching these areas”, explains Luis Maurano, senior technologist at the Inpe.

The farms that burned

To understand how the use of the fire specifically by the farms released by the government of RoraimaThe InfoAmazonia analyzed data from the VIIRS sensor, which is on board the NOAA-20 satellite, with an accuracy of 375 meters, to show where it actually burned in and around the areas.

The analysis was complemented with information from the Greenpeacewhich investigated the administrative processes related to the 55 licenses issued in 2024, and identified burned on at least 10 farms authorized after February 21, when the suspension of the use of fire throughout the state was decreed.

For the organization, “it is unacceptable that the state government has granted licenses for fires in this situation, increasing heat sources in the region, putting the environment and the health of the population at risk”.

Among the 19 farms detected by the report with outbreaks as of February 10, is Aurora, in the municipality of Iracema, where 150 outbreaks were registered after the license expired, until April 8. The fire started inside the property on the same day the license expired, in a recently deforested area, and expanded outside the property boundaries.

Already at the farm Guaporéin the municipality of Rorainópolis, even with the prohibition, fire was used soon after the forest was cut down. The VIIRS sensor recorded 30 hot spots on the property, 29 of them after February 10th. Deforestation in the area began in the second half of 2023 and remained active in the first three months of 2024. According to the Greenpeaceno authorizations were found for cutting vegetation in this area.

Another record holder for hot spots was farm Friendship, with 58 registrations between January and February this year. The farm licensed to use fire burned pasture areas in the municipality of Caracaraíone of the most affected in the state by the fires.

In all cases where there is a record of fire beyond the boundaries of the farms, it was found that the fires started inside the properties and then spread outside, in several cases reaching forest areas or recent deforestation. Satellite images from the beginning of this year show a large concentration of fires near the new fronts of agricultural explorationwhere forest areas are more vulnerable and less humid.

Only one of the areas leaves doubt as to whether the fire started inside the property: the farm Eye of Waterin the municipality of Amajari, where the outbreaks occurred practically simultaneously inside and outside the delimitation. Among the areas analyzed, it is the third with the highest number of outbreaks after February 10th.

In a public note, the Diocese of Roraima and 33 social organizations that operate in the state expressed concern about what they called “the state government’s neglect” in the face of the environmental crisis caused by burned. According to the organizations, the situation was worsened by the lack of effective policies to face the climate emergency and authorizations for more fires during this period.

“Such measures resulted in the increase in fire outbreaks in several municipalities in the state, due to strong winds and drought. There was no more effective prevention and control measure, generating an alarming amount of smoke, directly affecting the health of riverside people, indigenous people, residents of the city and the countryside”, says an excerpt from the note.

Expanding agriculture

The governor Antonio Denariumwho is also a farmer and partner in the largest slaughterhouse in the state, has invested heavily in agricultural expansion in the state of Roraima. Under his administration, the number of cattle grew by 60%, from 750,000 heads to a herd of 1.2 million cattle.

In the same period, the pasture area increased by 25%, going from 804 thousand hectares in 2019 to more than 1 million hectares in 2022, according to data from the network MapBiomas.

read more