Brazil’s national space agency, INPE, identified 6,803 fires in the Amazon region in July 2020, up from 5,318 the year before. The figure is all the more troubling given that 2019 was already a devastating year for fires in the Amazon, triggering global outcry.
That has put pressure on Brazil, which holds around 60 percent of the Amazon basin region, to do more to protect the massive forest, seen as vital to containing the impact of climate change.
The fires are largely set to clear land illegally for farming, ranching and mining.
On July 30 alone, satellites detected 1,007 fires in the Amazon, INPE said. That was the worst single day for fires in the month of July since 2005.