Fires raging through the Amazon

Posted by jamie — 3 September 2008 at 2:19pm - Comments

It's currently the dry season in the Amazon and, as the live webcast last week demonstrated, fires have been decimating large areas. The video crew weren't the only ones documenting the fires and last week we received images from another Greenpeace team who took to the air to photograph them and the devastated areas they leave behind. We've put together some of the most striking (not to say depressing) images into the slideshow below.

You'd be forgiven for thinking the images seem familiar, as this happens with depressing regularity. Fires are a natural feature in the lifecycle of many forests and some species even rely on regular firestorms to reproduce. But many of the fires in the Amazon have been started deliberately: a forest isn't really conducive to growing crops or raising cattle so this is the time of year when matches are put to the dry wood to open up new areas for cultivation.

While there's a certain stark beauty in some of Daniel Beltra's photos, it's one that comes at a very high price.

About Jamie

I'm a forests campaigner working mainly on Indonesia. My personal mumblings can be found @shrinkydinky.

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