The number of fires in Brazil’s Amazon is the highest in 17 years, authorities say.

Brazil’s Amazon rainforest experienced the most wildfires in 2024 in 17 years after months of prolonged drought, according to government data released Wednesday.

According to the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), there were 140,328 fires detected through satellite imagery each year.

This is 42 percent higher than the 98,634 fires recorded in 2023 and the highest number since 2007, when 186,463 forest fires occurred.

However, despite the high number of fires, there were indications that the total area affected by deforestation may be the lowest in years.

In early November, INPE announced that deforestation in the region in the 12 months to August 2024 had fallen by more than 30 percent year-on-year, to the lowest amount in nine years.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has made conservation of the Amazon a priority for his government, and the Amazonian city of Belem is scheduled to host the United Nations climate change conference COP30 this November.

Last month, Europe’s climate watchdog, the EU’s Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service, announced that a severe drought would lead to wildfires across South America in 2024.

Thick smoke occasionally clouded major cities like Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo last year, causing weeks of choking pollution.

Due to anthropogenic climate change and the El Niño warming phenomenon, the Amazon region has been suffering from drought since mid-2023.

This helped create the conditions for large-scale fires, but experts say most of the fires were intentionally set by farmers to clear land for agriculture.

Scientists have warned that if deforestation continues, the Amazon will emit more carbon dioxide than it absorbs, accelerating climate change.

© 2025 AFP