Summary
For weeks now, forests and farms here in the Amazon – and across Brazil – have been ablaze like seldom before thanks to a highly combustible cocktail of extreme drought affecting nearly 60% of the country.
The Guardian spent three days at the Rubber Soldier Ecological Station encampment near a logging outpost called Cujubim.Cujubim is named after an Amazonian bird – the red-throated piping guan – which is native to this part of Rondônia.
Despite efforts, the situation was getting worse. “He sowed terror around here … He was the boss of the forest,” one police officer said of Pozzebon.
Experts say lack of rain and searing temperatures have turbo-charged the wildfires. But the overwhelming majority of the blazes were deliberately set.
This week Lula’s environment minister, Marina Silva, accused the fire-starters of committing ‘climate terrorism’ and called for tougher punishment.
