By Paul Homewood

 

 

h/t Joe Public

 

 

What’s this? A factual piece on the BBC?

 

 

 

As South American countries meet in Colombia to discuss the fires in the Amazon basin, other parts of the world have also been ablaze.

Vast tracts of forest in Russia, Asia and Africa have been burning.

The extent of the fires has sparked outrage around the world.

But is the scale of these fires unprecedented, or have there been years in which they have been more extensive?

With the help of satellite data we have looked at four areas – Brazil, Siberia, Indonesia and Central Africa.

And we have concluded that although fires this year have wrought significant damage to the environment, they have been worse in the past.

Amazon ablaze

Around 60% of the Amazon rainforest is in Brazil.

The number of fires between January and August 2019 is double that of the same period last year, data from the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) suggests.

A record-breaking number of fires across Brazil was initially reported. However, this claim did not reflect all the historical data available.

Although it is the highest number of fires (for the year to 27 August) for almost a decade, it is actually lower than for most years in the period 2002 to 2010.

There is a similar pattern for other areas of Brazilian forestry that are not part of the Amazon basin.

Full story here.

As the BBC go on to show, the story is just the same in Siberia, Indonesia and Africa. Nothing unprecedented, and mostly just average years.

As the expert states at the end:

"Fires are very important landscape management tools and are used to clear land for planting crops," says Lauren Williams, a specialist in Central and West African forests at the World Resources Institute.

Required reading for Mr Harrabin, I would suggest!

via NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT

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September 6, 2019 at 04:33AM