Days Before Amazon Forest Fires, Brazilian Newspaper Reported Farmers Planning 'Day Of Fire'

Brazil President on Thursday said that the country lacks the resources to fight the fires raging in the Amazon. This came just a week after the leader said that the government doesn¡¯t need foreign aid to protect the rainforest, as reported by the Washington Post.

Many believe that Jair¡¯s calls to ignore the environmental concerns on promoting encouragement of deforestation has played a big role in starting the fire across the rainforest.

AFP

Meanwhile, the report from the Journal Folha do Progresso (a small Brazilian newspaper), two weeks before the Amazon forest fire, says that environmentalists claim that the fire is entirely man-made, by the farmers, just to clear the land! The report garnered a lot of attention as the news of the Amazon fires spread.

The report also says that the local farmers were planning on August 10 to light fires to clean and clear the pastures and it said that this was even supported by the Brazilian President, who promised to open up Amazon for development.

Reuters

According to CNN, environmental organisations say that hundreds of fires now raging in Amazon were set by cattle ranchers to clear the land. Lincoln Muniz Alves, a researcher at The National Institute for Space Research¡¯s Earth System Science Centre, said that these man-made fires are particularly difficult to tackle.

The Journal Folha do Progresso reported that the fires would have started on the ¡®Fire Day¡¯ that local farmers were already planning.