Smoke from Amazon Rain Forest Fires Have Turned Sao Paulo's Days into Nights

Spooky
images show Sao Paulo covered in a thick cloud of smoke as drivers try to make
their way around the city on Monday afternoon. Officials with Brazil’s National
Institute of Meteorology (Inmet) said the darkness was the consequence of humid
air and smoke from exceptional fires scorching in the Amazon rainforest
thousands of miles away. There have been 9,507 new forest fires across Brazil
in the past four days alone, leading to concerns a surge in deforestation is wreaking
havoc on the environment.

More
than 70,000 fires have been spotted in Brazil this year so far, marking an 83% surge
over the same period last year according to the country’s INPE research Centre.
Although the unparalleled upsurge, climate concerns have been sacked by
far-right President and Jair Bolsonaro. The climate change disbeliever brushed
of criticism by saying it was the time of the year when farmers use fire to
clear land. He has promised to develop the protected Amazon area for farming
and mining, disregarding international worry over the influence of cutting down
trees. The Amazon is home to the world’s biggest tropical forest and is perceived
as vital to confronting global warming.

Though
wildfires are common in the dry season, the INPE said there was nothing irregular
about the climate or the rainfall in the Amazon this year, meaning
deforestation is possible to behind the increase in fires. They said
deforestation in the rainforest increased 67% in the first seven months of the
year. Though, the data have been dismissed by Bolsonaro, who promised to
develop the Amazon region when he took office in January.

He
has criticized the government agency’s data and only just fired its head
over what he named “lies” that damaged Brazil’s repute. Mentioning the
deforestation numbers he told a press conference:

“News
like this that does not match the truth causes great damage to the image of
Brazil.”

Earlier
this month, Germany and Norway declared the holdup of environmental funding for
sustainability projects in Brazil’s forests, both saying his far-right
administration is not dedicated to fight deforestation.