Brazil: Pará declares emergency situation due to forest fires

On Tuesday (Aug. 27), Pará Governor Helder Barbalho declared a state of emergency in response to the ongoing fires. The decree bans the use of fire for clearing and managing land across the state.

The ban will not apply to subsistence farming by traditional and indigenous communities, phytosanitary control, or scientific research that has the approval of environmental agencies.

The governor's decree also stipulates criminal, administrative, and civil penalties for non-compliance, with the measures remaining in effect for 180 days.

Barbalho based his decision on technical reports from the National Center for Monitoring and Alerting Natural Disasters (Cemaden) and the Pará State Secretariat for the Environment and Sustainability (Semas). These agencies warned of the lack of rainfall in Pará and the effects of this year's La Niña phenomenon, which have exacerbated forest fires.

According to the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe), Pará reported 14,700 fires in the first eight months of this year.

A similar decree was signed by the government of the state of Rondônia, also part of the Amazon biome, where fires have already destroyed 107,216 hectares of forest.