Number of Amazon forest fires in Mato Grosso, Brazil fall 44%
Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com
September 21, 2005
The Brazilian National Institute for Spatial Research (INPE) reports that fires have fallen 44% in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil when compared to last year’s figures.
INPE registered 22,180 hotspots in the Mato Grosso between July 1st to September 15th when forest burning is prohibited by law. Last year the agency tallied 38,752 hotspots. Mato Grosso’s share of the total hotspots registered throughout Brazil fell to 24.59% in 2005 from 42.83% in 2004. The state of Para now has the highest number of hotspots in Brazil.
Overall the number of hotspots in Brazil fell by 2.81%. In August, the Brazilian government announced that 3,515 square miles (9,103 square kilometers) of Amazon rainforest were destroyed between August 2004 and July 2005, a marked decline from the 7,229 sq. mi. (18,723 sq. km.) in the same period a year earlier. While the government has tried to take credit for the drop, analysts say the slowing is more likely the result of lower commodity prices, giving farmers less incentive to clear forest land.
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