Forest fires in Amazon share little in common with B.C.'s blazes, expert says

Thousands of forest fires now burning across South America's Amazon rainforest may remind British Columbians of smoky summers past, but a local fire ecologist says theyshare few characteristics.

"The big difference is these are all human-caused fires,"" Robert Gray told CBC's Daybreak Kamloops this morning. "There hasn't been any lightning activity [in Brazil]. Our fires in the Pacific Northwest ...tend to be about 50-50 lightning and human."

Many of thefires are started by local farmers using slash-and-burn techniqueswhich has transformed large swaths of the tropical rainforest into rangeland, Gray explained.

Slash-and-burn agriculture involves clear-cutting an area and then burning any remaining vegetation, producing a nutrient-rich layer amenable to farming, but only temporarily. The deforested land does not remain fertile for long. Generally, farmers abandon the degraded land afteronly a few years.

• As forest fires rage, experts worry about the future of the Amazon

"What used to be [a] multiple-species, tropical rainforest is now a very simplified systemwhich is not good for the planet," explained the Chilliwack-based scientist.

The Amazon's rainforests also absorbcarbon dioxide, considered a critical defence against rising temperatures and other disruptions caused by climate change.

"There's just so many of them"

Then there is the sheer number of fires.

A couple thousand fires in one year would be considered a lot for this province, said Gray. An estimated 165,000 forest fires are burning across the Amazon, with more than 75,000 firesin Brazil alone. According to Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE), there have been 84 per cent morewildfires recorded across the country so far this yearcompared with 2018.

"There's just so many of them," Gray said. "They're spread out all across the landscape, from Bolivia right through to Brazil. So, it's very, very hard to put them out."

Like other experts, Gray blamed the new Brazilian government for the staggering uptick in forest fires by encouraging deforestation and ignoring environmental rules.

Last weekend, the Group of Seven nations pledged $26.5 million Cdn to help fight the flames in the Amazon and protect the rainforest, in addition to a separate $15.8 million Cdn from Britain and $15 million Cdn from Canada.

After initially refusing the foreign aid, Brazil's far-right President Jair Bolsonaro then reversed course and said the country would accept monetary assistance on the condition Brazil decides how it is spent. Bolsonaro has also demanded an apology from French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron, claiming France'sleader had called him a liar and questioned Brazil's sovereignty over the Amazon.

• While all eyes are on Brazil, Bolivia battles its own vast Amazon fires

The situation won't improve,Graysays, until Brazil reverses its current policies.

"We know what's causing it," hesaid. "This is a policy issue, and it's going to take some pressure [placed] on the existing government to go back to the previous policies which were focused on restoring the rainforest."