Brazil’s Amazon region records record number of fires, with human activity and El Niño as the main causes

Nearly 3,000 forest fires have been recorded in the Brazilian Amazon this February, the highest level since records began in 1999, and the high number of fires is likely to be linked to climate change. fires in the Amazon region increased by 286% between February 1 and 25, the highest level in nearly seven years, according to data. In the first 25 days of February 2024, 2,838 fires were recorded in the Amazon, compared to 734 during the same period last year, according to the data. According to Brazilian environmental experts, the increase in fires in the Amazon this year is first and foremost due to human activity, as the Amazon rainforest is a humid tropical rainforest that rarely catches fire naturally; the increased activity of the El Niño phenomenon, which has led to severe heat and drought conditions in the northern part of the Amazon in the recent past, has also contributed to the significant increase in fires in the Amazon.