South America Chokes As Amazon Burns

Roberto Smeraldi, head of Friends of the Earth Brazil, said the situation was out of control: “We have a strong concentration of fires, corresponding to more than 10,000 points of fire across a large area of about two million sq km in the southern Brazilian Amazon and Bolivia.” Each year at the end of the dry season, in anticipation of the first winter rains, farmers and cattle ranchers throughout South America set fires to “renovate” pasture land. But this age-old cycle has spun out of control as deforestation and climate change have created a tinderbox. There has also been a massive expansion of cattle ranching into forested areas, where fires are then set to clear an area after chainsaws have felled the trees. Mr Smeraldi was clear on who was to blame for this year’s fires: “They are mainly, I would say more than 90 per cent, the result of expanding cattle ranching.” The first rains have arrived but they are weaker than usual in most areas and have been useless against the fires. snip… “These fires are the suicide note of mankind,” said Hylton Murray Philipson, from the London-based charity Rainforest Concern. “While politicians talk about defining moments, destruction will continue until we begin to attribute real value to the standing forest." To see pictures at http:/Google.com/click on IMAGES and enter site:earthobservatory.nasa.gov fires amazon or try this link http://www.gearthhacks.com/dlcat44/Image-Overlays.htm Al Gore’s speech at the United Nations is here: http://blog.algore.com/2007/10/al_gores_speech_at_the_united.html http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article3028701.ece [Proofreader’s note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on October 9, 2007]

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