Archived press release

Amazon fires warm the world: g8 ministers warned

3 April 1998

A preliminary evaluation by Friends of the Earth and the Amazon NGO Working Group has found that since the start of the year, the fires released at least 125 million tons of carbon dioxide - the main greenhouse gas [1]. Although heavy rain has now doused most of the fires, the 'burning season' is still some months away.

The calculation is based on the most conservative estimates of the affected area issued by the Brazilian Federal Government - that only 2,000 square kilometres of forest and 30,000 square kilometres of open area have been burnt [2]. The state of Roraima has estimated devastation of up to 40,000 square km of open areas and 10,000 square km of forest. The real level of carbon emissions could therefore be much higher.

G8 Environment Ministers are meeting at Leeds Castle in Kent this weekend to discuss climate change and implementing the Kyoto Protocol. The extent of the Brazilian fires' contribution to the greenhouse effect can be seen by comparing emissions to the annual carbon dioxide emissions of each of the G8 nations [3].

The inadequate reduction targets agreed at Kyoto will be more than cancelled out if the

world's forests are allowed to burn on this scale.

Tony Juniper, Campaigns Director for Friends of the Earth, commented;

"Massive pollution has been released from the Amazon fires and the ongoing fires in Indonesia and the Philippines. This must add urgency to discussions by the G8 Environment Ministers this weekend on implementing the Kyoto Climate Protocol. It also shows that we cannot rely on the world's forests to absorb carbon dioxide to slow down climate change. The first priority must be policies that cut fossil fuel use and reduce greenhouse gas emissions at source."

The coordinator of the Amaznia Program of Friends of the Earth, Roberto Smeraldi,commented;

"We are still waiting for complete and reliable figures about these affected areas, to give a more definitive estimate, but what we already have shows the severity of the problem. Now, our main concern is with the rest of the Amazon region where,once the dry season starts at the end of May, we will face enormous risks."

NOTES TO EDITORS

[1] Most recent data on the total biomass of each different type of vegetation in Roraima were used, which vary from 35 to 439 tons per hectare. It uses a burning efficiency factor of 56.5% for Roraima and, for "reburnings",the indexes from the Colnia de Apia region (20.1%), one of the areas from which burnings originated this year. "Roraima and global warming: annual balance of greenhouse gases originated by changes in land use",by Philip Martin Fearnside, Manaus, 1997, published by INPA and edited by Reinaldo I. Barbosa, Efrem J. G.Ferreira and Eloy Castelln.

[2] Areas affected by fire include open areas such as agricultural land, pasture land and savannahs and 13 different types of forest cover - four types of dense primary rainforest totalling 117,927 km2, and nine types of non-dense forests and intermediate areas, totalling 69,594 km2. The total forested area in the state is equivalent to 187,521 km2.

[3] Emissions figures are for 1994, except for Russia, which is 1990.

Contacts in Brazil:
Friends of the Earth - Amaznia Program

Grupo de Trabalho Amaznico

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust