Wildfires in Brazil: update from our team
August 29, 2024
Paula Moreira runs our Voices for Just Climate Action (VCA) program in Brazil, which helps local communities make their voices heard in national and global discussions on the climate crisis. We talked to her on Skype the other day about this summer’s record-breaking wildfires in the country.
“Brazil is ablaze – once again. This year, fires have engulfed the natural environment and ravaged people’s homes from the Amazon rain forest all the way up to the Pantanal – our largest tropical wetland. The past few days we have even seen enormous fires spreading through São Paulo state, my home. These are the worst fires on record since we started keeping track in 1998.”
“If I look up at the sky now here in São Paulo, I see huge clouds of smog covering the city. It’s because the sugar cane plantations are also on fire, which fills the skies above cities and villages with filthy smoke.”
“Scientists have directly linked the growing size and numbers of fires to more frequent and longer droughts caused by deforestation and climate change. As always, it’s the most vulnerable communities that are hit hardest. Indigenous and other people who live off the land and poorer families who lose their homes and livelihoods have much more trouble starting over again.”
“Our partners throughout the country see rivers running dry. These waterways are often the only means of transport for traditional riverside communities. Drought also severely impacts the ability of communities we work with to grow crops and access clean water.”
“Hivos will continue to work with our partners to make communities more resilient to the effects of the climate crisis. One of the ways we do this is by supporting climate activists in lobbying local and national governments to prevent deforestation and take measures to prevent forest fires. Another is by amplifying the voices of people we work with and sharing their harrowing experiences with decision makers.”
Read more about Paula and the work Hivos does in Brazil.
