René Gómez-García
Coordinador de Negocios Verdes, CAF
The report by Brazil’s National Space Research Institute (INPE) and the information published by NASA/FIRMS as of August 21, 2019, indicate that the number of fire hotspots in Brazil and Bolivia is at least 80% higher than the previous year, and more than 9,000 fire hotspots have broke out since August 15 alone. National Geographic, Global Forest Watch, INPE and NASA also show that deforestation in 2019 exceeds that of the previous three years combined.
While more information is being gathered, the Amazon forest suffers an unprecedented number of fires, affecting a portion of land only comparable to the events during El Niño in 2010.
The Amazon contains a unique ecosystem made up mainly of tropical rainforest (44% of the total), covers approximately 40% of the territory of South America, and is part of eight countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and the French overseas department of Guiana.
The Amazon basin produces between 16% and 20% of the world’s fresh water, contains 25% of land biodiversity, more fish species than any other river system, 6,000 animal species and at least 40,000 plant species, according to a World Bank publication in May. According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), a new species is discovered there every three days. Although the Amazon only covers 1% of the planet’s surface, it is home to 10% of all known wildlife species.
The Amazon also acts as a greenhouse gas (GHG) sink, with a declining ratio of the oxygen it generates vs. the carbon it sequesters and stores; however, data show that the Amazon still produces at least 10% of the world’s oxygen. Part of the Amazon’s wealth is also its population and diversity. It is home to 34 million people, with at least 86 languages and 650 dialects, according to a UNEP 2016 report.
Forest fires also affected the Bolivian Chiquitano forest, which covers 11% of the country’s area. This Amazon-Chaco transitional ecosystem, a fragile dry tropical forest, has been particularly vulnerable, and will require the most attention during restoration efforts. In fact, without proper intervention, the devastation caused by these fires would be virtually irreversible.
Causes of fires
Fire fighting in the Amazon, as a traditional annual practice during this season, is subject to regulations, planning, monitoring and evaluation in each country.
Agricultural encroachment, deforestation and the need for good land management practices lead to new unplanned economic activities, and new stakeholders with no knowledge of the ecosystem involved in fighting the fires. According to climate reports, 2019 is not a dry year. This shows that increasing temperatures and decreasing relative humidity of the air in the forest have been caused mainly by lack of trees, which kindles fires that are difficult to control.
The main effects of fires in the Amazon involve an extent and scale significant enough to surmise that the variables that sustain this system are in jeopardy. These are as follows:
- The Amazon as a climate and water cycle regulator. The basin generates up to 50% of its own rainfall, regulates a complex groundwater system and generates up to 70% of the rainfall in parts of the La Plata Basin, as published by Lovejoy and Nobre in Science Advances, 2018 and UT Delft, 2010. It also regulates air humidity in the subcontinent and transfers this humidity through ocean currents.
- The Amazon as a regulator of the carbon and energy cycles. The burned forest has not only lost its carbon absorber role, but the fire also releases the carbon stored in trees for many years, i.e. 180 to 300 TM/ha, eliciting an environmental disaster that affects the forest, the population, the water, and the soil.
- The Amazon as a key ecosystem for migration to a greener, low-GHG economy. Forest fires certainly do not contribute positively to the achievement of sustainable development goals (SDGs), or to the climate targets of the Paris Agreement, or the Aichi biodiversity goals. However, this reality presents an opportunity to move forward with a stronger drive in integration tasks and to pool efforts and resources for better analytical knowledge, effective conservation and sustainable use.
CAF’s actions
At CAF, we have supported countries in the region for a number of years in order to preserve their biodiversity and efficiently manage natural disasters and forest fires. In the case of the Amazon, we have the following projects:
- Amazon Without Fire Program. The program was implemented in Bolivia (2012-2015) and Ecuador (2014-2019), and built capacities on integrated fire management and on alternative techniques and uses in agricultural activities. In addition, it established national strategies for comprehensive fire management and operational plans for prevention, control, remediation of forest fires, among others. The program also trained 32 community brigades of 1,235 members, raised awareness among 14,998 local stakeholders who took on commitments regarding the use of fire, and trained 10,300 people in comprehensive fire management, for the 2013–2015 and 2017–2018 time periods. In Ecuador, the project includes access to financing, by training officials from local financial institutions in the evaluation of business plans associated with value chains with alternative practices without the use of fire. Beneficiaries in SMEs were trained in green product design, reducing environmental risks in agribusiness, and educational material was used in demonstration units for forest fire prevention. During project implementation in the two countries, the incidence of fire hotspots and extension in the forest was reduced by 80%.
- The Regional Capacity Building Project for Integrated Fire Management – Amazon Without Fire. This project was structured in partnership with the OTCA. Based on the results achieved by the Amazon without Fire projects in Brazil, Ecuador and Bolivia, this project proposes a regional scope with the aim of reducing the incidence of forest fires by implementing a fire management approach, to help protect the environment and improve conditions for local populations.
- The project for sustainable management of the Amazonian landscape. Currently being structured to support Bolivia’s government in partnership with the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the project aims at increasing forest ecosystems, reducing native forests, territorial planning with forest management, increasing restored ecosystems and effective public-private coordination.
The Amazon is an essential life system for the regional and global ecological balance, and it therefore requires the greatest of conservation efforts, so that the environmental benefits it provides can reverse the declining trends demonstrated by science and to ensure that individual measures can be applied by countries in a timely and effective manner.
