The Amazon Rainforest has hit a record number of wildfires this year, according to data from a space research agency in Brazil. The National Institute for Space Research (IPNE) has detected 72,843 fires so far this year, and has spotted 9,507 fires in Brazil since Thursday. The new data is an 83% increase from the same period in 2018, and the highest since records began in 2013. Reuters reports that the surge in wildfires has occurred since President Jair Bolsonaro took office in January. Bolsonaro vowed to develop the Amazon region for farming and mining, and has ignored international concern over increased deforestation during his presidency. An IPNE researcher said that the increased number of fires cannot be attributed to natural phenomena alone. “The dry season creates the favorable conditions for the use and spread of fire, but starting a fire is the work of humans, either deliberately or by accident,” IPNE researcher Alberto Setzer told Reuters.
