Environment minister says severe drought is ‘aggravating’ factor as smoke engulfs Porto Velho city The Brazilian government has deployed almost 1,500 firefighters to the Amazon as the most severe drought in decades is turning the rainforest’s usually moist vegetation into kindling and flames Despite a sharp decrease in deforestation since the president, Lula da Silva, took power in January 2023, there have reportedly been 59,000 fires in the forest since the start of the year, the highest number since 2008, according to satellite data from the National Institute for Space Research The unusually early fire season has engulfed the city of Porto Velho in smoke prompting medical concerns about its 540,000 residents who are forced to breathe unhealthy air There have already been devastating fires in another of Brazil’s great biomes, the Pantanal wetlands, which were made at least four times more likely and 40% more intense by human-caused climate disruption, according to a study by international scientists also blamed human-caused global heating for the intense blazes “We have seen a worsening of climate change changes in the temperature of different regions a series of issues that are aggravating the problems,” the minister said The government announced on Wednesday that it had mobilised 1,489 firefighters to combat the latest fires. In the past month, it said more than half of the wildfires in the north of Brazil had been extinguished or brought under control. But with the usual peak of the fire season in September and October, there are fears the situation could deteriorate further. Read moreTen Brazilian states have been affected Federal authorities have asked the governors of Pará Rondônia and Acre to decree a ban on the use of fire which is often set by farmers to clear land told the Guardian its members had stopped using the method this year because they were alarmed by the tinder-dry conditions The impact on non-human species is incalculable. In Lake Tefé last year, more than 100 endangered river dolphins died in shallow fungi and insects – which are the core of the forest – are also suffering in the unusually dry conditions More than a third of the Amazon rainforest is struggling to recover from drought, according to a recent study that warned of a “critical slowing down” of this globally important ecosystem The signs of weakening resilience have raised concerns that the world’s greatest tropical forest – and biggest terrestrial carbon sink – is degrading towards a point of no return after four supposedly “one-in-a-century” dry spells in less than 20 years Our promise towards a carbon-neutral future EconiQ Consulting supports customers addressing their unique environmental performance needs Meet IdentiQ™ digital twin for sustainable Service is our commitment to the world’s largest existing installed base and the future of the energy system Accelerating a clean energy transition with a range of solutions for solar Discover the people and technologies behind the multiple pathways towards a carbon-neutral future Advancing a sustainable energy future for all we are co-creating global and local solutions to benefit society Get in-depth insights on topics and trends in the energy sector from industry thought leaders in this animation series about the world of electricity and sustainable energy Diversity and inclusion are the core of our success The Rio Madeira HVDC system is a 6,300 MW ± 600 kV high-voltage direct current transmission system in Brazil built to export electricity from new hydro power plants on the Madeira River in the Amazon Basin to major load centers in southeastern Brazil and a 800 MW back-to-back station located in the northwest A consortium consisting of two companies in the Abengoa Group, Inabensa S.A (Spain) and Abengoa Construção Brasil Ltda (Brazil) awarded Hitachi Energy contracts to supply the power equipment for three HVDC stations. The delivery is part of the Brazilian government's Program to Accelerate Development (PAC). Brazil's power system is about 95 percent hydroelectric. Main load centers are in coastal regions, especially in the southeastern state of São Paulo.  Hitachi Energy provided two 3,150 MW HVDC converter stations, and an 800-MW HVDC back to back station.  The 800 MW back-to-back HVDC station transmits power to the surrounding AC network in northwest Brazil. This installation includes capacitor commutated converter (CCC)-type back-to-back converters instead of conventional converters for local electrical loads, providing continuous and even control of voltage and power in the weaker power networks of northwest Brazil. ©Hitachi Energy Ltd 2025. All rights reserved Reporting by Patricia Vilas Boas; additional reporting and writing by Andre Romani; Editing by Chris Reese and Kylie Madry Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab , opens new tab Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. , opens new tabScreen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks. © 2025 Reuters. All rights reserved Error 404: Page Not FoundWe're sorry, the page you’re looking for doesn't existWatch these videos instead IPL V PSL: Ricky Ponting Blames PSL for Punjab's Woes | First Sports With Rupha Ramani | N18G India's Crackdown On Pak Continues, Bans Nadeem's Instagram | First Sports With Rupha Ramani | N18G United Accused Of Re-Selling Tickets For Shocking Rates | First Sports With Rupha Ramani | N18G Terrorism Surges in Nigeria; Boko Haram, ISWAP Regain Strength | Firstpost Africa | N18G Somalia Bans Entry of Taiwanese Citizens To Please China: Taipei | Firstpost Africa | N18G Kenya Faces Alarming Need For Antivenom Amid Surge In Snake Bite Cases | Firstpost Africa | N18G Kenya Battles Snakebite Rampage | Firstpost Africa | N18G Trump Claims India & Pakistan Fought Over Kashmir for 1,500 Years | Vantage with Palki Sharma | N18G O endereço abaixo não existe na globo.com Please press and hold the button until it turns completely green If you believe this is an error, please contact our support team 147.45.197.102 : 33299d68-b18e-416d-94d3-baa3cebe Thirteen people have died in clashes between Brazilian police and one of the country’s most powerful criminal groups in the Amazon region in the past four days The violence erupted after the murder of a military police officer on Sunday in Porto Velho the capital of Rondonia state in the Brazilian Amazon The authorities retaliated by initiating an operation targeting the Comando Vermelho (Red Command) Port Velho has one of the country’s highest homicide rates in the country The clashes have raised concerns about the growing power of gangs in the region Eight people were killed in attacks by criminal gangs and another five died in clashes with the police since Tuesday morning according to Rondonia’s security department The attacks prompted authorities to limit the hours when public transportation is available and assign police escorts to city buses The crisis led the federal government to send national public security force troops to Rondonia to help the state police contain the wave of violence for at least 90 days Porto Velho police claim that the attacks are a retaliation by the Comando Vermelho criminal faction against police operations in a housing complex that the gang controls in the city Though the Comando Vermelho was created in the state of Rio de Janeiro it has become the most powerful gang in the Amazon region in recent years A recent report by Brazilian Public Security Forum showed crime rates are rising fast in the Amazon home of the world’s largest rainforest the region registered 34 homicides for every 100,000 people While the Brazilian Amazon region has for decades struggled with conflicts over land as farms expanded into the forest the more recent violence is connected to disputes among gangs to control key drug trade routes that connect cocaine producers to consumers and has recently become a key drug trade route police seized 20 tons of cocaine in the state “The Amazon is a perfect environment for crime The gangs control the territory and define the rules,” Lima said Mafrico did not respond to a request for comment left by phone. Contact information for 163 Beef was not immediately available, as numbers on its Facebook page were disconnected. which began in 2014 and included companies across Latin America a court banned brothers Wesley and Joesley Batista from holding management positions.It came after they admitted bribing approximately 2,000 Brazilian regulators the Batista brothers rejoined JBS's board following a shareholder vote.Reporting by Stefanie Eschenbacher and Luciana Magalhaes in Sao Paulo and Simon Jessop in London Editing by Christian Plumb and Rod Nickel Stefanie covers energy, the environment and climate change across Mexico and Central America - with a particular focus on the troubled Mexican state oil company Pemex and its emissions. A German native, she also spent more than a decade writing about all things finance while based in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. Before that, she worked in microfinance in Ghana. She holds a Master's degree in economics and finance. Huge tracts of land have burned from largely man-made blazes in Ecuador a UK-sized chunk of the Amazon in the western reaches of Brazil But the “pure crystalline” heavens celebrated by those lyrics have vanished in recent months Huge tracts of South America have been blanketed in smoke from largely man-made wildfires that are raging from Ecuador’s drought-stricken capital to Paraguay’s Chaco forest to the backlands of the greatest tropical jungle on Earth The smoke has been so dramatic that passenger planes have been unable to land in Rondônia’s riverside capital The government polyclinic run by Dr Lilian Samara de Melo Lima has seen a surge in patients suffering respiratory complaints Aerial view of heavy smoke from fires in the Amazon rainforest covering the city of Porto Velho on the banks of the Madeira River “These days we can’t even see the other bank of the river,” complained the Brazilian GP as she sheltered inside her clinic from the smog “But this year has been truly atypical,” she added, blaming man’s “devastating, predatory, reckless” march into areas that just a few decades ago were largely unexplored jungles inhabited by little-known Indigenous groups. Read moreFor Porto Velho’s 500,000 residents the blazes have been suffocating “We’re breathing in so much detritus,” said its health secretary The city’s inhabitants are far from the only South Americans suffering as a result of fires experts say have been exacerbated by a historic drought linked to the natural climate phenomenon El Niño and the effects of climate change it’s not only Brazil,” said Erika Berenguer an Oxford University scientist who studies the impact of fire on the Amazon Berenguer said satellites had detected a record number of fire “hotspots” in neighbouring countries such as Colombia Drought and fires have also scorched Paraguay’s endangered Chaco ecosystem threatened the agriculture-dependent economy An area affected by a fire in the Chaco region in Bahia Negra, Paraguay The conflagration has ravaged areas used by Ayoreo nomads – South America’s only uncontacted people outside the Amazon – to hunt and forage “Our isolated brothers live in that territory,” said Choyoide José Fernando Jurumi the leader of the local Ayoreo Chovoreca community At least 20 people have died since July in Peru as forest fires have destroyed tens of thousands of hectares of land in the Andes and its portion of the Amazon states of emergency have been declared in six regions; Lambayeque Huánuco and Cajamarca in the highlands and San Martin Fires have affected 22 out of Peru’s 24 regions Top left: Aerial view of a wildfire-affected in the Amazon jungle in Ucayali region in Peru on 17 September 2024 Top right: The Peruvian president Dina Boluarte and the defense minister Walter Astudillo during a meeting on the deployment of helicopters and aircraft to combat the wildfires in the San Martin region Bottom: A helicopter loading a water bag to mitigate wildfires in San Martin Peru’s prime minister, Gustavo Adrianzén, caused anger by attributing the fires to traditional slash-and-burn practices, though experts say most were likely deliberately set to open up land for farming, ranching and illicit crops like coca, the plant used to make cocaine. “Most of the fires were started to open the doors to illegal activity,” said Constantino Aucca, who leads Acción Andina a community-led reforestation model in Andean countries has been among those helping battle the flames in and around his country’s capital “What’s extraordinary is the scale of the emergency … I’ve never seen anything like it in 30 years working as a paramedic,” Rivera said by phone last week from Cerro de Auqui the latest point to be hit by blazes that have shrouded the highland capital in smoke and ash Firefighters try to put out a forest fire in Latacunga “We can see this is related to global heating,” Rivera added “As soon as we put out the flames in one place Fires have also swept across Bolivia’s eastern lowlands where most of its soya and beef is produced the president Luis Arce flew into the region to officially declare a situation of national disaster According to the latest figures from the national government 4.6m hectares of forest have burned across the country – an area greater than the size of Switzerland The regional government in Santa Cruz says 7m hectares of pasture and forest have burned there alone “the worst environmental disaster” in its history Penati thought Porto Velho was also living through some of the worst days in the city’s 110-year history but saw its climate calamity as part of a global crisis which required an urgent collective response Firefighters work to extinguish a fire in the community of Palestina “The Earth is sick … the Earth is crying out for help,” the health secretary warned as she sat in the smoke-veiled clinic quoting a recent address by Pope Francis in which he urged people to change their ways voicing despair at South America’s increasingly smoky plight so sad because we’re hurting our planet and we need to care for her – because we are killing ourselves.” The requested URL was not found on this server with a short dry season between June and August Most of the rainfall recorded in Porto Velho occurs from November until April Porto Velho has an estimated population of 519,531 and a population density of 15 persons per square kilometer The culture of the city exhibits influences from Brazil's Northeastern Region the city's link to indigenous cultures is reflected in popular folklore and skilled handicrafts Allied forces relied on Brazilian rubber after losing access to the rubber from Malaysia This resulted in a temporary boom in Porto Velho’s economy the discovery of gold and cassiterite on the banks of the Madeira River as well as the establishment of large cattle ranches encouraged significant migration to the city Mining and cattle ranching are currently the most important sectors of Porto Velho’s economy. In particular, the city's economy is primarily driven by cassiterite mining Porto Velho is also a regional hub of communication and transportation photos and original descriptions © 2025 worldatlas.com Brazil – May 2024 – The Salesian community in Porto Velho together with parishioners and devotees of Our Lady of Fatima the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary with the Mass of Dedication and reopening of the church in the Fatima Parish and Shrine It took six months of work to redo the church's floor The celebration was presided over by Archbishop Emeritus of Passo Fundo (RS) who together with the clergy and the numerous people carried out the entire sacred rite of dedication of the renewed church thanked the entire parish community and the devotees for their support which made it possible to carry out the work fully supported with the community's resources the children studying catechism crowned the image of Our Lady ANS - “Agenzia iNfo Salesiana” is a on-line almost daily publication the communication agency of the Salesian Congregation enrolled in the Press Register of the Tibunal of Rome as n 153/2007 This site also uses third-party cookies to improve user experience and for statistical purposes By scrolling through this page or by clicking on any of its elements “ O sistema atmosférico não cria uma situação individual para cada ponto ressalta especialista - Foto: Divulgação observatório do clima which is increasingly intensifying and affecting impoverished populations in different regions of the country In the Amazon, dozens of municipalities have declared a state of emergency due to rivers being at historic lows. Entire communities are isolated and have difficulty accessing food and drinking water. The dry weather has also contributed to spreading fires which destroy forests and plantations and pollute the air are not restricted to the Amazonian territory all regions suffer from disproportionate heat According to the Natural Disaster Monitoring Center (Cemaden, in Portuguese), Brazil is experiencing the worst drought in recent history. At the same time, three months ago, Rio Grande do Sul recorded the worst flood in the state's history According to data from the Drought Monitor around 200 Brazilian municipalities are still dealing with extreme drought especially in the state of São Paulo (82 towns) Amazonas has the largest total area with drought in July the area affected by the phenomenon increased from 5.96 million to 7.04 million square kilometers equivalent to 83% of Brazil's territory Rio Grande do Sul has remained drought-free for ten consecutive months Extreme weather events: Brazil's new “normal” the relationship between devastating floods in Rio Grande do Sul and deforestation in the Amazon makes sense given that all atmospheric dynamics are connected who is a professor in the Graduate Program of Geography at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS explains how the recent disasters in southern Brazil the fires in the southeastern area of the country and the droughts in northern Brazil are all interconnected The geologist explains that we are under the climatic variations of El Niño which is nothing more than the warming of the waters This phenomenon normally occurs twice every 10 years and usually lasts for 18 months El Niño has intensified by greenhouse gases this change has led to the results we've seen in recent months which normally comes from the south towards the north It shocked with extremely hot pressure in the southeast portion of the country and wasn’t strong enough to advance all the rain that supposedly had fallen in the country’s southeastern or northeastern areas was blocked by a large mass of hot air the rainfall that should have been distributed to other parts of Brazil was concentrated in this region here in Rio Grande do Sul.” This explains why Brazilians have experienced extremely harmful natural events The professor also warns that the warm air mass in southeastern Brazil which prevented the cold front from advancing is an example of the relationship between global warming and the intensification of natural disasters “The atmospheric system doesn’t create a situation for each place; they are intertwined.” That’s why deforestation compromises the capacity of forests to regulate the climate across the American continent The consequence is the intensification of extreme events such as heavy rains that turn into storms and then floods a climate change scientist and coordinator of the Greenhouse Gas Laboratory at the National Institute for Space Research (INPE her research team has focused on analyzing the factors that determine these changes “We analyzed what had happened over the last 40 years in the Amazon and calculated how much each area had lost We found a very close correlation between more deforestation and lack of rain and an increase in temperature September and October,” explains Luciana are proof of the connection between vegetation and climate control and that's kind of obvious because trees release water vapor into the atmosphere The [Amazon] forest throws into the atmosphere an amount of water similar to what the Amazon River throws into the ocean every day Can you imagine the Amazon River flowing uphill?” Lúcia guarantees that deforestation is largely responsible for the rise in temperature in the region “For water to leave its liquid state (the state in which it is in the ground) and turn into vapor in the atmosphere because the water turning into steam is consuming energy in the form of heat in the Amazon,” says Luciana “When the number of trees in the forest decreases this process slows down and the temperature rises because the temperatures there are extremely high and there is a very important water vapor deficit concentrated in this region,” she explains living conditions in Brazil depend on a significant transformation in the economic model and public investment priorities “We needed to declare a moratorium on soy production and prioritize forest restoration projects there but the Mato Grosso state government is doing the opposite But agribusiness itself is going to bankrupt because there is no agriculture without water Luciana points out a safe path to fight future disasters it is urgent to combat it with immediate environmental conservation and reforestation measures both in the Amazon and on the riverside slopes of Rio Grande do Sul This is the only way to protect not only forests’ socio-biodiversity but also the inhabitants of the most vulnerable regions The scientist also defended the idea that agribusiness “The only money that counts is the balance of trade If people were to consider how much tax these agribusiness people don't pay how much they borrow at very low interest rates and how much it costs the Brazilian state to repair the damage caused by extreme events we'd see that this model causes a lot of damage to the country So why do we insist on investing so many resources in monoculture?” she asks to look at the population's demands and invest in projects that protect the lives of those affected [by climate disasters]” What do people hit by climate change think people all over Brazil hit by extreme climate events took to the streets to demand the protection of the population's fundamental rights in the face of the impacts caused by the current economic model and deforestation in different territories of the country from the northern state of Rondônia to the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul Organized by the Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAB, in Portuguese), the slogan of the day of struggles was “Save the Amazon We are all affected!” to denounce the impacts caused by the devastation of the world's largest rainforest but now it seems that the situation is worse Fishermen have already given up trying to fish because the river is just over a meter deep,” says Maurício one of the people affected who took part in the MAB actions in Porto Velho the new reality to which these populations are subjected by the climate crisis not only aggravates the scenario of insecurity near dams but also affects the expansion of projects related to the energy transition and worsens the living conditions of the working class in the face of environmental catastrophes the economic model adopted in Brazil has led to an enormous concentration of wealth and increased socio-spatial The populations affected by dams and by major works in general have historically been victims of this process these populations are 'doubly affected' as they are more vulnerable due to the risk of dam breaks as well as suffering the tragedy of extreme droughts,” says Elisa She emphasized that the recurring tragedies throughout the country show that there is an urgent need for a solution to support those affected through measures to adapt to and confront climate change but also through reparation policies for the affected populations among the actions planned for September 5 were demonstrations occupations and public assemblies to discuss the different tragedies underway in Brazil that are radically changing the lives of millions of Brazilians.   Hit by the historic flood in May in Rio Grande do Sul mentioned at the beginning of this news story was also motivated to take to the streets on September 5 In June she went through a complicated experience Marisa gave birth to her second child without a home because everything she had bought to welcome her child was washed away in the mud for 34 years and has never witnessed such severe flooding she says she will fight to build a different future for her daughter *This news story is the result of a partnership between Brasil de Fato RS and the Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAB, in Portuguese). All original content produced and editorially authored by Brasil de Fato may be reproduced, provided it is not altered and proper credit is given. All original content produced and editorially authored by Brasil de Fato may be reproduced, provided it is not altered and proper credit is given. Down a dusty dirt road in the Amazonian state of Rondonia, prisoners convicted of murder, theft and other crimes get a rare release from the day-to-day hardships of a penal system known for violence and overcrowding. ACUDA, a local charity in the capital city of Porto Velho, trains prisoners in spiritual and physical healing practices including Ayurvedic massage, based on ancient Hindu medicine, as well as in conventional vocational skills such as car mechanics and gardening. “It gives inmates something to look forward to and something they can use when they leave,” says Adriano Furtunato, regional manager of the penal system for Rondonia, a poor state on the western fringe of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest. The system has strict rules of conduct that must be met before inmates can take part, so the therapies also provide an incentive for prisoners to behave, he adds. The charity, which has its headquarters within a complex of ten prisons in the city, uses local volunteers to run its courses and over the years has trained more than 2,000 inmates. About 110 currently take part in the training programme. The therapies have one goal, says Luiz Carlos Marques, the charity’s founder - educating inmates about the possibilities of life beyond crime. “Nobody can force someone to stop breaking the law,” he says. “It’s something each person has to decide on their own.” In a recent training session, prisoners in handcuffs were bussed to the charity’s headquarters, located within a complex of 10 prisons. Activities ranged from Ayurvedic massage to yoga, ear candling therapy and pottery painting. From watching the prisoners, their favourite seemed to be the clay therapy that’s designed to improve skin health for the prisoners, who spend most of their hours in dank, dark cells. Family members join the detainees on the last Friday of each month. Everyone shares a meal and prisoners, some of whom show their Ayurveda certificates to their mothers, then use their new skills to massage family members. Sergio Luiz Brito Aponte, a 38-year-old inmate now five years into a 30-year-sentence for murder and drug trafficking, describes his life before prison. Aponte says the therapies offered by ACUDA have helped him achieve much more than he ever did as a free man. “Today I am a mechanic, a sculptor, a masseur and other things,” he says. “I didn’t know how to do anything before, only wrong.” An inmate walks through a prison courtyard at a complex of ten prisons in Porto Velho, Rondonia State, Brazil. A woman walks with her baby near a bus containing detainees in the prison complex. A warden removes handcuffs from Arlen Sena, 26 and Honorio Santos, 33, as they arrive to take part in the ACUDA programme. Prisoners’ handcuffs lie on the floor at the entrance of ACUDA’s headquarters inside the prison complex. An inmate gives a fellow prisoner an Ayurvedic massage. Ayurveda is an ancient Hindu system of holistic healing. Prisoners learn massage to help them understand the human body and develop more compassion for others, according to ACUDA. An occupational therapist gives an Ayurvedic massage to prisoner Anderson Miranda, 33. Inmates give their relatives Ayurvedic massages during a half-day family visit to the prisons. Prisoner Hugo Garcia, 22, smiles as his son takes a bath helped by the child’s grandmother during a family visit to ACUDA’s headquarters. Prisoner Cleverson Barbosa, 27, caresses his wife as their children sit nearby, during a family visit at ACUDA’s headquarters. Prisoners clean ACUDA’s headquarters after taking part in alternative therapies. Inmates, patients at a psychiatric prison, receive Bach Flower remedies from a fellow prisoner as part of the ACUDA programme. Prisoner Anderson Miranda, 33, plays with his son during a family visit to ACUDA’s headquarters. Prisoner Rafael Oliveira, 22, embraces his wife and baby during a family visit at ACUDA’s headquarters. Inmates (wearing blue, left to right) Messias Manoel, Jose Nunes, Manoel Joaquim and Rivaldavio da Silva, patients at a psychiatric prison, sit as a fellow prisoner Tiago (standing behind), 24, takes care of them as part of the ACUDA programme. Lights shine in part of a complex of ten prisons along "Penal Road" in Porto Velho, the capital of the Brazilian state of Rondonia. 20195:22 PM UTCWildfires rage in Brazil's AmazonAn unprecedented surge in wildfires has occurred since Brazil's right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro took office in January vowing to develop the Amazon region for farming and mining ignoring international concern over increased deforestation [2/32]An aerial view shows a deforested plot of the Amazon near Porto Velho Wildfires raging in the Amazon rainforest have jumped this year with 72,843 fires detected so far by Brazil's space research center INPE on August 20 The surge marks an 83% increase over the same period of 2018 [5/32]A tract of Amazon jungle burns at Tenharim Marmelos Indigenous Land walks next to a burnt tract of the Amazon forest as it is cleared by farmers after the fire hit 2 acres from her cassava plantation in Rio Pardo [8/32]A fire is seen on a tract of Amazon jungle at Tenharim Marmelos Indigenous Land walks on a smoldering field after it was hit by a fire burning a tract of the Amazon forest as it is cleared by farmers [10/32]A tract of Amazon jungle burns as it is cleared by farmers in Rio Pardo [11/32]A tract of Amazon jungle burns as it is cleared by farmers in Rio Pardo [12/32]A member of the National Public Security Force combats a fire burning a tract of Amazon jungle as it is cleared by farmers near in Rio Pardo [13/32]A tract of Amazon jungle burns as it is cleared by farmers in Rio Pardo [14/32]A tract of Amazon jungle burns as it is cleared by farmers in Rio Pardo [15/32]A view of a deforested area at the National Forest Bom Futuro in Rio Pardo [16/32]A member of the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio) walks as a fire burning a tract of Amazon jungle is cleared by farmers near in Rio Pardo [17/32]A fire is seen on a tract of Amazon jungle at the National Forest Bom Futuro in Rio Pardo [19/32]A burning tree is seen during a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest in Itapua do Oeste [20/32]A fire is seen on a tract of Amazon jungle at Tenharim Marmelos Indigenous Land Brazil's conservation efforts have come under scrutiny this year amid the worst fires in the Amazon rainforest since 2010 Far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has called for rolling back conservation rules to allow more development of the region's natural resources More in this CollectionSee all picturesItem 21 of 32 An aerial view shows a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest near Porto Velho REUTERS/Bruno Kelly[21/32]An aerial view shows a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest near Porto Velho © 2025 Reuters. All rights reserved Vets working at the Clinidog clinic in the Amazon city of Porto Velho believe the mother and baby were run over by a car as they fled fires raging across the world's largest rainforest screaming and smeared with blood," said Carlos Henrique Tiburcio one of the earth's most biodiverse habitats face an ever-growing threat as loggers and farms advance further and further into the rainforest In the dry season ranchers and land speculators set fires to clear deforested woodland for pasture fueled by the swirling wind and dry foliage Weak and dying animals arrive at Tiburcio's clinic where four volunteers work tirelessly to save them when fires are constant due to the absence of rain the animals seek shelter in desperation to escape death and end up in the city putting themselves at risk of being run over or captured," said Marcelo Andreani whose job is to rescue injured animals and bring them to the clinic "Human respect for nature is ending," lamented Andreani who works for the state environmental police An anteater arrived with a broken left paw after a clash with a fierce porcupine The patient had been found hiding in a garage and the vets think it might have been fleeing fires as anteaters rarely turn up in the city a giant tongue rolled out of the anteater's mouth earning it the affectionate nickname Linguaruda one of the vets took Linguaruda home to keep a closer eye on her recovery she climbed into the bathroom sink to rest Linguaruda was strong enough to return to the wild - the best outcome her rescuers could wish for "Our personal and professional satisfaction is immense when we manage to save a life especially when we manage to rehabilitate an animal and return it to nature," Tiburcio said for everything you did for (me) to be the Lord's instrument." where it eagerly clambered among the trees once more PHOTO EDITING MARIKA KOCHIASHVILI; Writing by Stephen Eisenhammer; Editing by Richard Chang A dead anteater lies on the road near the burning tract of the Amazon jungle A dead anteater is placed on a burnt log while fire brigade members of Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) attempt to control hot points A dead armadillo is seen at a burning a tract of the Amazon jungle Anteater Linguaruda walks among shoes at Marcelo Andreani's house A Caracara hawk receives treatment at the Clinidog Red macaw undergoes a necropsy procedure at the Clinidog A tapir is seen in an illegal captivity on a farm before being rescued by the state environmental police Agents of the state environmental police push a tapir into a wooden cage as they rescue it Andreani touches a tapir's head after rescuing it from an illegal captivity Smoke billows in a burning area of the Amazon jungle A road runs through a tract of burnt Amazon jungle Please read our republishing guidelines to get started Beef production is linked with the deforestation of the Amazon but traceability in supply chains is poor (image: Fábio Nascimento) Porto Velho is one of the biggest cities in the Brazilian Amazon but it still feels like a small town There is little traffic in the urban centre located in the heart of Rondônia state Trade is still modest and the population is growing slowly it has increased from 428,000 to 530,000 inhabitants the human and bovine populations in Porto Velho were similar there are two head of cattle for each human This same trend is repeated in the other states that encompass the Amazon biome. Data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) show that cattle herds in the north of the country have grown more than any other Brazilian region. Here, herds grew 22%, compared to the national average of 4%, as shown in a new cattle ranching map of Brazil, produced by InfoAmazonia and Diálogo Chino and especially those in developing countries China, the final destination of more than a third of meat produced in Porto Velho, is a case in point. Chinese consumers eat 30% more meat compared to a decade ago Though the average Chinese still consumes almost ten times less meat than the average Brazilian the size of the country’s population means consumption habits have a tremendous impact Higher levels of beef consumption worldwide have brought prosperity to Rondônia’s farmers. Adélio Barofaldi is CEO of Grupo Rovema which owns the largest network of car and truck dealers in the state He is also president of the Association of Rural Landowners of Rondônia (APPRO) “We are the fifth largest producer of beef from Brazil with 70% preserved area,” Barofaldi told Diálogo Chino at his Porto Velho office Beef production is linked with the deforestation of the Amazon (image: Fábio Nascimento) But the market has also became a powerful driver of deforestation. Rondônia was among the states most affected by this year’s fires the value of pasture in the region also increases which has the common consequence of encouraging land fraud and the conversion of more tropical forest it is possible to know how much deforestation exists within each exported cargo The irregular process of land occupation affects conservation units (areas) mainly the district of Santo Antônio do Matupi and the municipality of Apuí the agricultural frontier is advancing alongside land fraud schemes Researchers and environmentalists are calling this process “Rondonization” Porto Velho was indicated as having the highest risk of deforestation in Brazil’s entire beef export chain The Trase initiative, a group of researchers studying the impact of the trade in commodities, indicated in its latest report that Brazil’s annual beef exports generate 65,000 to 75,000 hectares of deforestation 22,000 hectares were attributed to exports to China the number one destination of meat produced in Brazil The report explains that most deforestation (52%) occurs in the Amazon meaning Hong Kong’s imports are more exposed to ‘deforestation risk’ Since mainland China gets most of its meat imports from meatpacking companies in the Cerrado biome they carry a smaller deforestation footprint more than half of which are in the Amazon region They are definitely exposed [to the risk of deforestation],” said Erasmus zur Ermgassen a researcher at Trase and the University of Louvain in Blegium Ermgassen said that the research team reviewed import contracts from 2015 to 2017 to identify which processing plants exports came from and to calculate the deforestation risk They checked this information against deforestation data at the municipal level taking into conversion to pasture and each meatpacking plant’s radius of activity into account Ermgassen hopes that the private sector will adopt the Trase indicator since it translates pressure on forests into actual numbers A cattle feedlot in the Amazonian state of Pará (Fábio Nascimento) we are showing that it is possible to know how much deforestation exists within each exported cargo,” he said Even with the high correlation between meat exports and deforestation Chinese companies do not seem to be paying attention At the beginning of the year, Trase had already identified Chinese companies with major potential to influence the Brazilian market But a search on these companies’ websites did not find any mentions of sustainability A few reported concerns over health issues and pollution but all seemed inattentive to the threats faced by forests Brazil’s federal public prosecutors found links between the meat industry and land fraud The companies with most exposure to this risk undertook commitments to regulate the sector Launched in 2009, the Legal Meat programme established deferred prosecution agreements (TAC in Portuguese) to give meatpacking plants time to get their houses in order and meet tracking requirements along the beef production chain Greenpeace was able to get the country’s four largest beef producers to agree to support zero deforestation in the production chain In 2017, the Chinese Meat Association, which represents 40 importers, made a commitment mediated by WWF to reduce impact on tropical forests Even with agreements covering 80% of meat exports the challenge of total traceability is still a huge one recently indicated that transparency is decreasing and experience difficulties accessing information on livestock transport routes on the federal government website as well as updates on companies’ own websites Cattle roam on deforested land (image: Fábio Nascimento) The main problem is that the herds are extremely mobile And this is partly the nature of the business Cattle are born on one farm and fattened on another They then go to the slaughterhouse and finally the meatpacking plant Yet there are many cases of ‘triangulation’ to legalise herds that at some point lived on pastures that had been illegally deforested a researcher at Imazon who has studied ranching in the Amazon for decades noted that it benefits neither producers nor the government to establish a system that permits total traceability since there is an economic advantage in keeping part of the herds invisible He added that the complex interaction of different actors within the system means it’s likely that there is a direct connection between growing Chinese demand for beef and increased deforestation any additional demand generates risk.” Rancher Adélio Barofaldi insists on the need to “tell the truth about the Amazon” which he says differs from the alarming headlines about fires that appeared in newspapers worldwide He says that criminalising deforestation is a mistake since Brazilian legislation allows clearing on 20% of rural properties in the Amazon region “(Satellite) photography does not show whether deforestation is legal or illegal,” he says Barofaldi says that he has a 500-hectare area on his farm that he will not clear he would run the risk of being called a criminal admit that livestock ranching needs to become more efficient with better pasture management and intensified production herd concentration is still low at only one animal per hectare and explains that the goal is seven to eight head per hectare such as using electric fencing and recovering degraded pasture “It would be possible to double the size of the herd in Rondônia without additional deforestation,” he says Gustavo Faleiros is Brazilian journalist who specialises on environmental issues Select from our bespoke newsletters for news best suited to you We’ve sent you an email with a confirmation link 我们向您的邮箱发送了一封确认邮件，请点击邮件中的确认链接。如果您未收到该邮件，请查看垃圾邮件。 If you would like more information about the terms of our republication policy or permission to use content, please write to us: [email protected] We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. By continuing to use our site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Read our privacy and cookies policy for further information Dialogue Earth uses cookies to provide you with the best user experience possible Cookie information is stored in your browser It allows us to recognise you when you return to Dialogue Earth and helps us to understand which sections of the website you find useful Required Cookies should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings Dialogue Earth - Dialogue Earth is an independent organisation dedicated to promoting a common understanding of the world's urgent environmental challenges. Read our privacy policy Cloudflare - Cloudflare is a service used for the purposes of increasing the security and performance of web sites and services. Read Cloudflare's privacy policy and terms of service Dialogue Earth uses several functional cookies to collect anonymous information such as the number of site visitors and the most popular pages Keeping these cookies enabled helps us to improve our website Google Analytics - The Google Analytics cookies are used to gather anonymous information about how you use our websites. We use this information to improve our sites and report on the reach of our content. Read Google's privacy policy and terms of service This website uses the following additional cookies: execute and analyze marketing programs with greater ease and efficiency while enabling publishers to maximize their returns from online advertising Note that you may see cookies placed by Google for advertising under the Google.com or DoubleClick.net domains Twitter - Twitter is a real-time information network that connects you to the latest stories opinions and news about what you find interesting Simply find the accounts you find compelling and follow the conversations Linkedin - LinkedIn is a business- and employment-oriented social networking service that operates via websites and mobile apps The proposed law declares Highway BR-319 (Manaus-Porto Velho) as “critical infrastructure indispensable to national security” and requires that the project be licensed and construction funds be allocated immediately Article 6 of the PL reads: “BR-319 is classified as a priority infrastructure project in any national development or economic acceleration plans” Article 7 of the PL reads: “The use of monetary donations received by the Union to carry out non-refundable actions to promote the conservation and sustainable use of the Legal Amazon appropriated in a specific account under the custody of the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) is authorized for public works aimed at recovering paving and increasing the capacity of the highway.” and the current PL goes further and wants this money to also pay for the asphalt itself Despite it not being in purview of the National Congress to interfere with decisions to be made by Brazil’s licensing system and by the Amazon Fund the PL represents a real danger in practice The two houses of the National Congress are effectively controlled by the ruralist caucus (representatives of large landholders) and its allies: just the Agricultural Parliamentary Front (FPA) itself has 72.9% of the votes in the Chamber of Deputies with 374 of 513 seats and 61.7% in the Senate with 50 of 81 seats This fact means that the entry into plenary represents a huge danger of this project being carried out in the near future with irreversible consequences that are beyond the government’s control The enormous likely damage of this fact is the great “elephant in the room” in the entire discussion of BR-319 It is interesting that the author of PL 4994/2023 is a federal deputy representing Rondônia, a state that is the largest source of migration of destruction processes to BR-319 and to other deforestation hotspots in the southern portion of the State of Amazonas, such as BR-230 The invasion of areas along BR-319 is occurring from south to north when it comes to invading the vast Trans-Purus region from BR-319 the flow will also come from this direction See related: Road network spreads ‘arteries of destruction’ across 41% of Brazilian Amazon only the Ministry of the Environment is acting to control deforestation while the rest of the government promotes projects such as BR-319 that imply vast areas of deforestation over the coming decades As for the actions that President Lula could take assuming it is approved by the National Congress even though it will be likely that the ruralists and their allies will have more than the required 60% of the votes to overturn the veto It is also urgent for Lula to control his anti-environmental ministers An earlier version of this text was published in Portuguese by Amazônia Real Road network spreads ‘arteries of destruction’ across 41% of Brazilian Amazon The “fortress conservation” model is under pressure in East Africa as protected areas become battlegrounds over history and global efforts to halt biodiversity loss Mongabay’s Special Issue goes beyond the region’s world-renowned safaris to examine how rural communities and governments are reckoning with conservation’s colonial origins and trying to forge a path forward […] In international talks over global climate policy Brazil’s government time and again has stated a goal that environmental activists scoff at: eliminating illegal deforestation in the Amazon rainforest They scoff because environmentalists believe that Brazil as guardian of the world’s largest rainforest amounts to nothing more than enforcing the law But in remote corners of the Amazon – a major source of the planet’s fresh water and oxygen and a crucial buffer against climate change – enforcing the law is not easy With few resources and personnel to police even major cities Brazilian authorities are easily outmanned and outmanoeuvred in a region the size of western Europe miners and other would-be developers in the Amazon fell trees unchallenged Before: Rondonia in a NASA satellite image taken in 1975.After: Rondonia in 2014 a western Brazilian state about half the size of Ireland forays into the rainforest by settlers in recent decades went largely unimpeded about 16 percent of the state has been cleared And that is just a sliver of a total area bigger than Germany that has been razed across the entire Amazon over the same period rises now where only jungle stood less than a quarter of a century ago Settlement there followed a routine well-established across the deforested Amazon followed by small merchants and prospectors who smell opportunity A tree is pictured at sunrise in the village of Rio Pardo near Bom Futuro National Forest in the district of Porto Velho Men try to extinguish a fire at a farm in Rio Pardo near Bom Futuro National Forest An aerial view of a deforested plot of the Amazon in Bom Futuro National Forest An aerial view shows the Amazon rainforest in Bom Futuro National Forest An aerial view shows an illegal logging camp (blue tarpaulin in foreground) in Bom Futuro National Forest near Rio Pardo stands next to Saldanha Hotel in the village of Rio Pardo Residents walk on a dirt street illuminated by headlights in Rio Pardo A man drives his motorbike past a bus in Rio Pardo A man poses on the street in the village of Rio Pardo pours petrol into bottles for an electric generator A family is pictured outside their house in Rio Pardo A boy sits as other children run in the corridors of their school in the village of Rio Pardo poses in front of a public phone that he owns in Rio Pardo Roque sits at the table inside his house in the village of Rio Pardo Evangelical pastors stand before a mass is held at their church in the village of Rio Pardo People pray during a mass in an evangelical church in the village of Rio Pardo Women talk outside a clothing boutique in Rio Pardo pose next to a phone booth that they installed in Rio Pardo Amilton cools off his horse at a petrol station in Rio Pardo When Edivaldo Fernandes Oliveira first arrived in Rio Pardo in 1999 he took to cutting trees and eventually cleared enough land to start a small ranch where more than 100 cattle now graze Oliveira and others in Rio Pardo say they did not know at the time that the land was in one of the many national forests Brazil’s government has established but nobody told me when I got here,” says Oliveira To fight means to struggle against ongoing efforts by Brazil’s environmental agency to move settlers like him off the protected lands whether their crimes were deliberate or not who is not related to Edivaldo Fernandes Oliveira the state has negotiated land swaps with the federal government but unprotected swaths of the forest to make up for some of what has already been cleared such measures are seen by critics as tantamount to rewards for wrongdoing But settlers see it through a lens going back to the earliest days of colonisation “The Portuguese had no titles when they came to Brazil,” says Paulo Francisco Fernandes Oliveira who brought him along later to help care for the cattle Go to next story in the series - Earthprints: Singapore The text of this commentary is updated from an earlier Portuguese-language version of the author’s column at Amazônia Real The BR-319 (Manaus-Porto Velho) Highway was built in the early 1970s by Brazil’s military dictatorship and the highway is now passable during the dry season So far, deforestation has been almost entirely limited to the “arc of deforestation” along the southern and eastern edges of the Amazon forest in Brazil and to the eastern half of the region where road access is already implanted The impact of the BR-319 will extend far beyond the strip along the highway route that is the subject of the EIA The BR-319 opens the central and northern portions of Amazonia to the migration of land grabbers (grileiros) individual squatters (posseiros) and organized landless farmers (sem-terras) These actors are already present in the “arc of deforestation” and have moved into areas in the southern portion of the state of Amazonas where there is road access Igarapé Realidade and Lábrea (see black and white map below) BR-319 is associated with plans for additional roads that would open the vast area of intact rainforest in the western part of the state of Amazonas when the reservoirs that supply the city fill São Paulo has nearly run out of water several times even with Amazonia’s water cycling function still intact The EIA defines an “area of direct impact” (ADA) and an “area of indirect impact” (AIA) that excludes the wider impacts of the highway including the critical “Trans-Purus” region to the west of the Purus River buried in the document’s 3735 pages there are passages that recognize many of the project’s true impacts for which the authors should be congratulated Among these is the threat that reconstructing the BR-319 poses to the Trans-Purus region by unleashing a chain of events that would result in opening the planned AM-366 road thus allowing deforesters to enter this critical region: The EIA also mentions the relevance of Brazil’s current presidential administration to the increased danger of the AM-366 being built: The potential for invasion of the areas opened up by the AM-366 road and the illegal side roads along its route between Tapauá and the BR-319 is mentioned: [AM-366] would offer migrants from the south and southeast regions, and especially those from Rondônia, an open route for opening lots in government lands — at zero cost. (ECI-Apurina The EIA also mentions the likelihood of the AM-366 sprouting side roads (ramais) to provide access to oil and gas production areas planned for exploitation under the massive “Solimões Sedimentary Area Project”: The obvious lack of governance in the area is a key issue in the battle over licensing The oil and gas project is a major threat to the forests of the Trans-Purus region because the scale of the project means that the companies exploiting the oil and gas would have a major motive for pressuring the government to provide road access The EIA touches on the responsibility of DNIT Brazil’s National Department of  Transportation Infrastructure for the disastrous outcome that would result from the BR-319’s role in increasing the likelihood of the AM-366 being built: ….this chain of events…, in a certain way, gives the entrepreneur some degree of responsibility for the eventual terrestrial connection of BR-319 to the city of Tapauá …. (ECI-Apurina Despite some passages in the EIA recognizing the BR-319’s wider impact this does not translate into recommendations about what to do about it the focus is restricted to the ADA and AIA and the recommendations are limited to pointing out that governance is needed to minimize impacts or delaying it for a substantial period of years while governance is established which is the document that serves for public discussion of the BR-319 project (including the public hearings) was obviously completed before the Indigenous component was available and contains no information on Indigenous peoples The EIA for the BR-319 mentions the fact that Brazilian law and Convention 169 of the International Labour Organization (ILO-169) require prior consultation of affected Indigenous peoples This legally required consultation needs to not only occur before the construction work begins but rather before any decision is made on whether or not to go ahead with the project: And Article 15 of the Convention makes it explicit that this consultation must take place before governments undertake or authorize any program for prospecting or exploiting resources that exist in the habitat of Indigenous peoples. (ECI-Apurina reconstructing the BR-319 highway would have enormous impacts and few benefits In addition to the need to comply with legal requirements such as obtaining the free prior and informed consent of Indigenous peoples Brazil’s leaders should pause to consider the wisdom of the project itself given the threat it represents to the country’s national interests Risking the loss of Amazonia’s environmental services FEEDBACK: Use this form to send a message to the author of this post capital of a Brazilian state ravaged by recent fires residents are on edge and falling ill from the pervasive smoke satellite data from Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE) has shown an increase of almost 85 percent in fires across the country from 2018 The situation is particularly acute in northwestern Rondônia state despite weather conditions being roughly the same The state is known as cattle country and is among the most deforested in Brazil ranchers appear to have set far more fires than in previous years and as a result large swaths of the state have been burning Porto Velho’s airport had to be closed as the fire raged right up against its perimeter Charred palm trees now greet visitors on their arrival the smoke is noticeable even deep within a large shopping mall and inside sealed hotel rooms The number of people admitted to state hospitals with pneumonia severe coughing and other respiratory illnesses has tripled in the last week life on the streets here appeared normal; people took no precautions to shield themselves from the smoke At a fruit stand along the busy Imigrantes Street Laine Polinaria de Oliveira catered to a steady stream of customers stopping to buy pineapples but everyone is talking about the fires,” she says “We are used to fires during this time of year but this year is so much worse than before.” Brazil's Amazon rainforest burns near Humaita where the fires are even more intense than around Porto Velho de Oliveira says she is particularly worried about her nine-year-old son inhaling the dirty air Jerrison da Silva Cruz, a local boat driver and fisherman, recounted a harrowing incident on Wednesday evening as he and a crew on board a ship traveling upstream ran into a wall of fire at a major bend in the river about 12 hours from Porto Velho. “We could not see anything because of the smoke,” he says. The captain of the ship decided that the best course of action was to stay in the same spot, alongside land that had been set on fire to make room for watermelon farms, and let the smoke clear, which it eventually did. While the wide Madeira River may act as a barrier against the fires, the small roads that crisscross the vast Amazonian forests provide little protection for people traveling by car. One million indigenous people live in the Brazilian part of the Amazon basin many in complete isolation from the outside world Fire smolders in an area of the Amazon rainforest near Porto Velho “Nobody knows what’s going on with them … they have no firemen to call to go there and put out the fire,” says Ivaneide Bandeira Cardoso a Porto Velho-based advocacy group for indigenous communities “What causes this tragedy are the words of the president,” says Cardoso, adding that while the greatest victims of the fires are indigenous people and nature, it is a “tragedy that affects all of humanity,” since the Amazon plays such an important role in the global ecosystem as a carbon sink to stem the effects of climate change. Bolsonaro for his part has dismissed the criticism of his government’s actions in the Amazon as hysterical. Without offering any evidence, he has even suggested that foreign NGOs have deliberately set fires to “bring about problems for Brazil.” While Bolsonaro retains strong support among his conservative base, many Brazilians appear increasingly concerned that the government’s actions will hurt Brazil’s reputation internationally and could eventually lead to economic hardship if other countries decide to boycott Brazilian products, including beef. Protests against the government’s policies on the Amazon are reportedly scheduled in many cities in Brazil over the next three days. At the fruit stand in Porto Velho, de Oliveira says attitudes regarding the deliberate setting of forest fires could be changing among ordinary people. “This is something that people have been doing for many years,” she says. “But now we can really feel the repercussions of this practice and people are changing their opinions on this.” Residents here don’t appear to let the smoky air stop them from going about their normal lives. On Thursday night, a young crowd at an outside bar attached to the main shopping mall in Porto Velho sang along loudly to a live band as the smoke whirled around the street lights. The title of the song? “Everybody will suffer.” Fire smolders in an area of the Amazon rainforest near Porto Velho, Rondonia State, on August 21, 2019. Brazil's Amazon rainforest burns near Humaita, Amazonas State, on August 17, 2019. 20205:33 AM UTCAmazon again under threat from forest firesFires in the Brazilian Amazon have surged so far in August outstripping the same period of 2019 and renewing concerns about the forest's destruction [1/26]Siblings Rosalino de Oliveira and Miraceli de Oliveira try to protect themselves from the smoke as the fire approaches their house in area of Amazon rainforest [2/26]A firefighter monitors a spot fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest [3/26]A bird flies over a tract of the Amazon jungle after it burned as it is cleared by loggers and farmers near Porto Velho [5/26]A tree is seen burning while a fire burns as back burning used to create a firebreak to stop the progress of a fire at a tract of the Amazon jungle in Apui [6/26]A Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) fire brigade member checks his phone after controlling a fire in a tract of the Amazon jungle in Apui [8/26]Smoke billows from a fire in an area of the Amazon jungle as it is cleared by loggers and farmers near Porto Velho [9/26]A Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) fire brigade member drinks water after attempting to control a fire in a tract of the Amazon jungle near Apui [10/26]An aerial view shows cattle on a deforested plot of the Amazon near Porto Velho [11/26]A Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) fire brigade member attempts to control a fire in a tract of the Amazon jungle in Apui [12/26]Smoke billows from a fire in an area of the Amazon jungle which burns as it is cleared by loggers and farmers near Apui [16/26]General view of a tract of the Amazon jungle which burns as it is cleared by loggers and farmers near Apui [17/26]A tree burns while Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) fire brigade members attempt to control hot points in a tract of the Amazon jungle near Apui [18/26]Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) fire brigade members walk in a burned area as they try to control hot points in a tract of the Amazon jungle near Apui [19/26]A Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) fire brigade member holds a dead snake during an attempt to control hot points in a tract of the Amazon jungle near Apui [20/26]Rosalino de Oliveira throws water trying protect their house as the fire approaches in area of Amazon rainforest More in this CollectionSee all picturesItem 21 of 26 A tract of the Amazon jungle burns as it is cleared by loggers and farmers near Apui REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino[21/26]A tract of the Amazon jungle burns as it is cleared by loggers and farmers near Apui REUTERS/Ueslei MarcelinoShare this gallery 20193:27 PM UTCBrazil's burning Amazon from aboveOver 60,400 fires have been recorded year-to-date in the Amazon Many have been set intentionally by farmers and ranchers [1/25]A burnt plot is seen in Jamanxim National Forest in the Amazon [2/25]Smoke billows during a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest near Porto Velho [3/25]An aerial view shows a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest near Porto Velho [5/25]Smoke billows during a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest near Porto Velho [6/25]Smoke billows during a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest near Porto Velho [8/25]Smoke billows during a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest near Porto Velho [9/25]A burnt plot is seen in Jamanxim National Forest in the Amazon [10/25]An aerial view shows smoke rising over a deforested plot of the Amazon jungle in Porto Velho [11/25]Smoke billows during a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest near Porto Velho [12/25]A burnt plot is seen in Jamanxim National Forest in the Amazon [13/25]An aerial view shows a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest near Porto Velho [14/25]A burnt plot is seen in Jamanxim National Forest in the Amazon [15/25]Smoke billows during a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest near Porto Velho [16/25]A deforested and burnt plot is seen in Jamanxim National Forest in the Amazon [17/25]An aerial view shows a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest near Porto Velho [18/25]An aerial view of a burning tract of Amazon jungle as it is cleared by loggers and farmers near Porto Velho [19/25]A deforested and burnt plot is seen in Jamanxim National Forest in the Amazon More in this CollectionSee all picturesItem 21 of 25 Smoke billows during a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest near Porto Velho REUTERS/Bruno Kelly[21/25]Smoke billows during a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest near Porto Velho Satellite imagery has given a sense of the scale and location of the flames which may only show a sliver of the amount of forest lost showcase the stark contrast of what used to stand there and what the essential rainforest is being replaced with 24.Image: CARLOS FABAL/AFP/Getty ImagesA burning tract of Amazon jungle as it is cleared by loggers and farmers near Porto Velho on Aug 29.Image: Reuters/Ricardo MoraesBurning jungle near Porto Velho on Aug 29.Image: Reuters/Ricardo MoraesMore than 70,000 fires have been seen this year.Image: Reuters/Ricardo MoraesAdvertisementA tree spared in a fire is seen in Porto Velho on Aug 29.Image: Reuters/Ricardo MoraesA plot of Amazon jungle cleared by loggers and farmers near Porto Velho.Image: Reuters/Ricardo MoraesAn closer view of a burned tract near Porto Velho.Image: Reuters/Ricardo MoraesA truck passes through deforested land in Boca do Acre on Aug 24.Image: Reuters/Bruno KellyAdvertisementCleared land in Porto Velho.Image: Reuters/Ueslei MarcelinoRoads are visible in an area of forest cleared by fire near near Porto Velho Brazil.Image: Victor Moriyama/Getty ImagesA section of the rainforest in the Candeias do Jamari region near Porto Velho.Image: Victor Moriyama/Getty ImagesBrazil’s National Institute of Space Research says the number of fires detected by satellite in the Amazon region this month is the highest since 2010.Image: Victor Moriyama/Getty Images📬 Sign up for the Daily BriefOur free “First they take the valuable trunks and then they set fire to the forest once or twice to turn it into pasture land,” says Daniel Kaxinawá with resignation describing the routine of gradual destruction of the Amazon rainforest on indigenous land belonging to the Karipuna community The 27-year-old is standing on waste ground where are a few months ago centuries-old trees stood The area where the Karipuna live covers 153,000 hectares in the municipalities of Porto Velho and Nova Mamoré in the northwestern state of Rondônia and should be protected land under a 1998 demarcation agreement but instead it is under siege from loggers and grileiros (people who steal public land) From the ashes of the remains of the forest green shoots are already emerging from seeds planted there by the invaders to feed their livestock Kaxinawá's fear – and that of all indigenous people – of coming across armed thieves or land-grabbers on their territory is not unfounded the only bridge that provides access to the Karipuna’s land had been destroyed with chainsaws “The trunks were still okay,” says Eric Karipuna pointing to the cuts in one of the thick logs that forms the passageway over a stream “It was retaliation by the loggers,” he explains an inspection team from the National Indian Foundation (Funai) had expelled six non-indigenous intruders who had been setting fires in the same area the Karipuna had fled from moments earlier “Now the medical teams have no way of getting here,” says Karipuna in the village where 60 members of the community live The largest swath of Karipuna territory is in Porto Velho Between January and August of this year there were more fires in the municipality than anywhere else in the entire Amazonian biome the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) identified 521 separate points where the horizon was shrouded in thick smoke A new front line of Brazilian agriculture is being established here The state of Rondônia almost tripled its head of livestock between 1999 and 2019 Out-of-control wildfires and increased devastation of the Amazon rainforest are the principal hallmarks of President Jair Bolsonaro’s government in the environmental sphere deforestation reached its highest levels of the past 12 years the impact of the ravaging of the Amazon was felt as far away as São Paulo where smoke from the fires turned day into night the federal government has announced it will slash 240 million reais ($45.7 million) from the Ministry of Environment’s budget The Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) will lose $3.6 million further weakening its ability to carry out inspections Rondônia is one of the most important Brazilian states for Bolsonaro’s environmental project, whose chief aim is to remove protection from lands protected by law and incentivize mining former environment minister Ricardo Salles paid a visit to loggers in the area after they had torched an Ibama vehicle in protest against the institute’s inspection measures Salles took stock of the situation and said in clear reference to the environmental invaders who had willfully destroyed public property: “You are all representative of the good working people of this country.” Conscious of the strategic importance of Rondônia Bolsonaro and his family are frequent visitors the president personally inaugurated a bridge that connects Rondônia with the neighboring state of Acre but fell short of condemning those carried out by grileiros that are of such concern to the Karipuna he targeted social movements: “There is no place here for terrorist groups We have the means to put them in their place and make them respect the law.” Bolsonaro’s words and deeds have fueled the audacity of illegal enterprise “The whole process of invading our territory burning the land and stealing trees has increased greatly under Bolsonaro’s government It has emboldened these people [grileiros and loggers] They feel they can now destroy more,” says indigenous chief André Karipuna which are vital for us above all in terms of inspections.” As if the pressures created by forest fires and environmental invaders were not enough the Karipuna territory borders the Jaci Paraná Extractive Reserve where the highest number of fires has been recorded this year and whose overall situation is likely to worsen over the coming months Porto Velho’s environmental condition began to drastically deteriorate at the turn of the century The most critical moment was the construction of two hydroelectric power plants “There was a vigorous process of speculation over the lands of the region and many people and businesses saw it as an opportunity,” says Marcelo Lucian Ferronato of the Rondônia-based NGO Ecoporé Two additional factors contributed to the advance of fire-setting and logging in the rainforest: “We had the expansion of the grain ports on the Madeira River and the paving of the highway to the Pacific which turned Porto Velho into a logistics distribution center This created a perfect storm for agroindustry Soybean crops were pushed into grazing areas and pastures then invaded conservation areas like the Jaci Paraná reserve.” The Jaci Paraná Extractive Reserve was delimited as a protected area in 1996 so that communities who live along the banks of the river could subsist through sustainable centuries-old practices including harvesting rubber trees But the grileiros and loggers swiftly moved in to fell the ancient trees and turn the land into grazing pasture The state government of Rondônia estimates there are now 120,000 head of livestock inside the reserve the already under-siege reserve suffered another blow: the Rondônia legislative assembly passed a bill that reduced its total size by 80% effectively rewarding the hundreds of environmental criminals responsible for turning it into the second-most deforested conservation area in the entire Amazon rainforest which had already been invaded and destroyed It served as a kind of barrier between the devastation and our lands,” says André Karipuna who adds that the authorities paid no attention to indigenous concerns during discussions over the reduction of the protected area who was the chief rapporteur of the bill to slash the size of the reserve did not respond to EL PAÍS’ request for comment the loggers and ranchers arrived and everything changed “Many people were evicted and many left in fear of their lives.” She estimates there are only seven families left now Lopes watches the smoke from a fire ravaging the jungle less than a mile from the house of her neighbor and friend who also lives inside the reserve’s boundaries you have to be careful or the wind will blow the fire to your place,” she says in reference to a simple wood construction with no electricity or running water “It’s been burning for more than a week.” De Sousa earns 600 reais ($115) a month selling what he produces on his small plot in the city “It’s those people [that set fires] to create grazing for livestock,” he says my small bit of land and my home.” Who is responsible for the fire You have to understand that here in the reserve there are the big people and the small people.” Rosa Maria Lopes remembers the first time she saw the level of violence involved in the robbery of land and deforestation when she came across the body of a rubber-tapper who had become involved in a fight with the loggers She too has been the subject of veiled threats “Some people were hiding in the thicket near my place to frighten me I thought about going to the police but I was scared It’s better not to get involved with these people.” Near her home They’ve cut down 50 bushels from the forest near here There isn’t even a tree left to fix up my hut.” The former rubber-tapper is worried about Bolsonaro’s environmental policies infamous for leaving protected land open to exploitation the president says he will be tolerant towards everything There’s no talk of planting corn or pumpkins In a few years’ time we won’t be able to scratch a living from this land,” she says Tales of fire and violence are a constant in conversations between residents on the reserve “Last year I nearly died trying to put out a fire that had nearly reached a neighbor’s hut,” says Casemiro José Lopes After fighting the flames that were threatening his friend’s flour mill with nothing but buckets of water the 53-year-old was hospitalized with a respiratory infection “We don’t know who is in charge of burning the land,” he says “What we do know is that it’s the same story every year.” a group of grileiros tried to intimidate Casemiro by burning a hut set to the rear of his small property “It happened just after we had surprised a tractor pulling down trees inside the reserve and confronted them,” he says The sense of impotence among the community is palpable “The reality is that we can only look after what is here on the banks of the river In the interior [of the reserve] there is nothing we can do I am optimistic because at least I know things can’t be any worse than they are now There is hardly any forest left to cut down.” As well as the fire that threatened to burn João’s home down EL PAÍS also witnessed another huge blaze inside the reserve that torched an area of several square kilometers of dense forest canopy The forest that was burned was just behind a zone that had recently been abandoned after being used by grileiros for grazing the grileiros and the loggers continue their advance across protected zones Chief Karipuna points to the importance of these lands “We have to understand the jungle as something that not only holds importance for us for water and for humanity,” says the young leader one of a new generation of a people that were nearly wiped out by diseases imported into the forests in the 1970s after first contact was made with the outside world who endured and managed to safeguard their heritage over the decades that followed only to face fresh adversity an advance post set up by Funai inside the Karipuna territory to protect the area from encroachers was burned down in a reprisal against inspections some abandoned ruins that symbolize the determination of agroindustry and the loggers to take possession of lands belonging to the indigenous protectors of the forest “They say there is too much land for so few indigenous people we are too few indigenous people to protect this great natural resource,” says Karipuna “And it’s curious that they never say ‘that’s too much land for just one farmer,’ isn’t it?” The Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources says that it has 17 inspectors currently working in Rondônia and that “inspections in the state have already led to 100 seizures four destruction orders and 383 violation orders that have resulted in 63,256,449 reais ($12 million) in fines.” Ibama also says it has been working in cooperation with Funai the Brazilian government stated that “the State Secretariat of Environmental Development has been working in fire prevention efforts and firefighting actions throughout Rondônia State.” The communique adds that in the first half of 2021 “146 operations were carried out with the aim of combating forest fires and deforestation,” and that 1,744 fines had been levied these were innocuous inspections on the part of a government that incentivizes those who destroy what it claims to be trying to protect InfoAmazonia Rondoniaaovivo: Madeira River hydroelectrics exceed set limit and affect thousands of families Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" Sentence requires to Santo Antonio and Jirau who built their plants on the Madeira River the study and the environmental impact report” Judge asked further studies to confirm that the environmental and social impacts are caused by the rise of water in hydroelectric reservoirs of Santo Antônio and Jirau Documentary with testimonies of people affected by hydroelectrics Santo Antonio and Jirau and Madeira river floods By visiting this site, you agree to the use of cookies, which are designed to improve your experience and are used for the purpose of analytics and personalization. To find out more, please read our Cookies policy which floats into theaters and Disney+ Premier Access on July 30 tells the heart-racing—and often hilarious—story of Lily Houghton (Emily Blunt) a doctor in botany who hires skipper Frank Wolff (Dwayne Johnson) to embark on a grueling journey up the Amazon River in search of a legendary tree that can cure all human ailments Jungle Cruise director Jaume Collet-Serra (Non-Stop, The Shallows) turned to French production designer Jean-Vincent Puzos (The Lost City of Z Amour) to help bring this otherworldly journey through a verdant mystical jungle on a creaking old tramp steamer so dramatically to life Puzos designed a variety of vivid tableaux for the film—including a London set where the movie opens and closes and a remote village in the heart of the Amazon jungle—but perhaps most impressive was the sprawling jungle port town of Porto Velho a visitor would be excused for mistaking the set for an authentic Amazonian village Every structure—from the Porto Velho town set and Nilo’s (Paul Giamatti) jungle cruise operation and tavern to Skipper Frank Wolff’s steam cruiser and his home on the water—is a functional building not a mere movie set façade trinkets—and this focus on authenticity helps give the film its naturalistic flavor “It’s an exciting challenge when you read a script and it has a description of an arrival in a city on the Amazon River with a couple of streets a cruise company building and our hero Frank’s skipper building workshop and pontoon,” says Puzos “You begin to divide the space and reinvent a landscape composed by many other spaces and bend your research in a unique direction to create a cartography where every set is directly connected to the next one And when you find an incredible location in Hawai‘i it’s the beginning of an adventure of a lifetime What makes this set so special is its gigantic scale the complexity of the landscape and the visual power of the vegetation—which gave us a rich range of shooting possibilities.” who says the Porto Velho set took one month to scout two months to design and four months to build says the biggest challenges his team faced were location and weather “First of all the location was so wild so hard to define during the survey—full of scars flooding the sets and slowing down the construction.” When asked for a favorite location on the Porto Velho set the hotel was a pleasure of complexity and simplicity following a strong pattern of Spanish/Portuguese style of colonial architecture the vertical building of Frank’s workshop was an iconic shape in the middle of the location I tried to visualize the journey of a conquistador constantly rebuilding his boat with debris and pieces of other boats Nilo’s Tavern was designed like a rusted building of metal showing all the variations of textures and colors of a piece of metal lost in the jungle the market was designed and built for an epic action scene This building symbolized our design: to treat the entire location like a garden the amount of information we wanted the audience to receive was extremely rich It was important to define every character with a space I hope they will see a tribute and an homage to a famous Disney attraction I hope they will dream of arriving by train in the middle of the Amazon and immediately enter a world of adventures I hope they will see a rich and charismatic city—and feel the danger of leaving it.” Jungle Cruise offered the opportunity to make the type of storyline he “loved as a kid I wanted to make a movie with a lot of scope That would feel like you’re on an actual journey through the Amazon And this set really helped us bring that to life.” If the forest burns it is almost always because of humans around the peak of the so-called "queimadas" as the burning season here is known the number of fires in Brazil's Amazon jumped to its highest since 2010 Fire is the second stage in clearing the forest Cutting down the forest is illegal without permission and using fire is against the law except in exceptional circumstances The latest data from August 2018 through July 2019 showed more rainforest was cleared than at any point in the past 11 years An area larger than Puerto Rico was cut down Preliminary figures suggest the rate has increased since Three teams of Reuters journalists spent weeks travelling thousands of miles across the world's largest tropical rainforest this year witnessing the devastation of what scientists regard as a vital protection against climate change stretching into the distance beside the road Some people have taken protecting the forest into their own hands Reuters spent seven days with an indigenous vigilante group fighting to keep illegal loggers off their land in the state of Maranhao six Guajajara tribesmen – faces painted for battle – rushed to ambush a group of loggers At a choke point in the local network of rutted dirt roads forcing the loggers to scatter into the forest One of the men that night was Paulo Paulino Guajajara He knew it was dangerous work and spoke frankly of his fear Members of his tribe said loggers had shot him through the head PHOTO EDITING BY GABRIELLE FONSECA JOHNSON; TEXT EDITING BY MIKE COLLETT-WHITE; LAYOUT BY JULIA DALRYMPLE A house stands in front of a burning tract as it is cleared by loggers and farmers near Porto Velho Billows of smoke rise over a deforested plot in Porto Velho An aerial view looks over a burning tract as it is cleared by farmers in Itaituba A truck drives through a deforested plot in Boca do Acre An aerial view shows a deforested plot near Porto Velho Remains of trees lie on the ground of a burnt tract near Porto Velho Eliane Muller walks next to a burnt tract as it is cleared by farmers after the fire hit 2 acres from her cassava plantation in Rio Pardo The carcass of a cow lies along a tract as it is cleared by loggers and farmers in Porto Velho A cow stands in front of a burning tract as it is cleared by loggers and farmers in Apui reacts in front of a deforested area in nondemarcated indigenous land inside the Amazon rainforest Employees relax in a camp inside the Bom Retiro deforestation area on the right side of the BR 319 highway near Humaita plays while a fire burns in the distance as it is cleared by loggers and farmers near Porto Velho A Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) fire brigade member attempts to control hot points during a fire at Tenharim Marmelos Indigenous Land Smoke from a burning tract rises into the distance behind a cabin near Porto Velho A tree trunk is engulfed in flames during a fire in Itapua do Oeste IBAMA fire brigade members attempt to control hot points during a fire at Tenharim Marmelos Indigenous Land A tract burns at Tenharim Marmelos Indigenous Land Enhance your virtual flights over Brazil with this comprehensive scenery package for Porto Velho Int'l Airport (SBRB) this airport handles a blend of domestic and international travel serving as a vital hub for both passenger and cargo operations this scenery offers accurately placed taxiway signs and refined airport layout details all designed for seamless integration into Microsoft Flight Simulator X The airport layout recreates the genuine operational flow at Porto Velho complete with correct runway markings and accurately positioned apron areas Each taxiway sign is meticulously aligned to reflect real-world dimensions ensuring reliable visual guidance when navigating the tarmac The underlying ground textures preserve the distinct ambiance of this Brazilian location and the prominent airport buildings have been handcrafted to capture architectural authenticity This freeware scenery introduces no adverse effects on system performance The custom effects and textures replicate real-life illuminations across the ramps These lighting elements highlight important zones within the airport during nighttime operations maintaining the authentic feel of a functioning international gateway A special thanks is dedicated (in memory) to Amaro Cavalcanti Luna granting permission for sharing as long as the original package remains unaltered Although tested to ensure a smooth experience the user accepts any installation risks at their own discretion View important Copyright © information related to freeware files here The archive sbpv_fsx.zip has 114 files and directories contained within it This list displays the first 500 files in the package Signing-up for PRO gives you super fast, unrestricted speed to the thousands of MSFS, FSX, P3D & X-Plane downloads which include aircraft, scenery, and more - click here to view the library for free or.. Sign-Up Now PRO membership payments go directly back into the website to pay for hosting It's what also enables us to offer a free download tier Join over 145,000 subscribers of our free dedicated flight simulation newsletter Are you using the latest Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 release?