Rough fire in savannah nature park in brazil

Fires have already destroyed 10,921 square kilometers of protected natural areas in brazil this year. This corresponds to about one-third the size of belgium and twelve times the size of berlin. Landowners are said to have set some fires.

As the portal "O globo" reported on saturday with reference to the biodiversity institute chico mendes, more than 65,000 hectares of the national park chapada dos veadeiros in the state of goias, 200 kilometers north of the capital brasilia, also burned in october. The savannah landscape was declared a world heritage site by unesco in 2001. Park director fernando tatagiba said the fires were probably set by estate owners as a protest against the expansion of the protected area.

Witnesses said they saw motorcyclists with gasoline cans. Again and again there are arsons in the fight for land, also in order to expel indigenous people from protected areas. Under the conservative government of president michel temer, critics say, there is an "anti-indigenous policy" and an expansion of economic activities, for example in the amazon region. Climate-damaging rainforest deforestation has also increased sharply recently.

The funai agency, which is responsible for protecting indigenous peoples in the regions, has seen its funding cut massively, by around eleven percent to 534 million reais (142 million euros) in 2016, adjusted for inflation; for 2017, it could be over 30 percent less, according to reports.

The new report of the indigenous mission council (cimi) documents dramatic changes. 118 indigenous people killed in 2016. For 65 of the 112 uncontacted peoples listed as living in isolation, there are concrete threats: from invaders illegally clearing tropical timber in their vast territories, to the construction of dams and hydroelectric dams, to drug transport routes, illegal fishing, expansion of soybean acreage and gold mining.