Is there a relationship between forest fires and deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon?

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 19; no. 6; p. e0306238
• Main Authors: Furtado Lima, Cássio, Pereira Torres, Fillipe Tamiozzo, Minette, Luciano José, Araujo Lima, Fernanda, Andrade Lima, Roldão Carlos, Keisuke Sato, Michel, Araújo Silva, Arthur, Leão Said Schettini, Bruno, Costa Ferreira, Francisco de Assis, Lima Machado, Mateus Xavier
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 28-06-2024
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Brazil; Climate change; Conservation of Natural Resources; Deforestation; Fires - statistics & numerical data; Forest & brush fires; Forest fires; Forests; Human influences; Public domain; Satellites; Vegetation; Wildfires - statistics & numerical data; Brazil; Brazilian Legal Amazon; Amazon Basin
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0306238

The Brazilian Legal Amazon is an extensive territory in which different factors influence the dynamics of forest fires. Currently, the Brazilian government has two tools in the public domain and free of charge, PRODES and BDQueimadas, to monitor and make decisions to combat deforestation and forest fires. This work aimed to evaluate and correlate the forest fire alerts and deforestation in the Amazon Forest in the state of Pará. The analyses were based on carrying out a diagnosis of forest fires and deforestation; the behavior of forest fires and deforestation over the last twenty years; the statistical relationship between deforestation and forest fires and their spatialization. This work identified that Pará is the state in the Legal Amazon with the highest occurrence of forest fires and deforestation. Deforestation in the four-year period Jan/2003-Dec/2006 showed a higher rate compared to the four-year periods Jan/2011-Dec/2018. A high correlation was found between forest fire alerts and increases in deforestation. There is a spatial relationship between cities with greater increases in deforestation and high numbers of fire alerts. In relation to the occurrence of forest fires and deforestation, the south of the state was the most critical region and the north had lower rates.