A deforested area of at least 4,500 square kilometers in the Brazilian Amazon, three times larger than the city of São Paulo, Brazil, is ready to burn. The result of the sum of what was felled in the first four months of last year—still not burned. This fallen vegetation on the ground can go up in smoke with the dry season that began in June in another season of intense fire like we observed in 2019. If this happens, the number of hospitalizations for respiratory problems can increase significantly, putting further pressure on the region’s healthcare system, which is already severely affected by COVID-19.
Amazon in flames 8 – Deforestation, fire and ranching on public lands
Public lands, which include indigenous lands (ILs), conservation units (CUs) and undesignated public land, occupy about 276 million hectares in the Amazon biome - if it were a European country, it would only be smaller in territory than Russia. These areas are...