Battling : The amazon's ongoing deforestation and forest fires (interview with ane alencar of ipam amazonia)
Ane Alencar is the Director of Science for the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (@ipamamazonia), a scientific, nongovernmental, nonpartisan, and nonprofit organization that has worked for the sustainable development of the Amazon since 1995.
In this podcast episode, Ane sheds light on the ongoing issues of deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest; how the man-made forest fires have been changing its bioregional landscape and water cycle; and more.
To start, get a glimpse below into the conversation between Ane and Green Dreamer Podcast's host, Kamea Chayne.
Musical feature: Trust The Sun by Mining for Steal by Fuchsia
“The Amazon is not a fire-dependent system; it is a fire-sensitive system. I can affirm that in the Amazon, we don’t have natural fires. One-hundred percent of the fires that we’ve had are our anthropogenic fires.”
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This is a conversation on Green Dreamer with Kamea Chayne, a podcast and multimedia journal illuminating our paths towards ecological balance, intersectional sustainability, and true abundance and wellness for all. This preview has been edited for clarity. Subscribe to Green Dreamer Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or any podcast app to stay informed and updated on our latest episodes.
On the uncertainties around the impacts of deforestation:
"There's this general perception that the Amazon is infinite in a way, which can actually be very bad. We do have a lot of resources—the Amazon is big and we still have a lot of forest. But we don't even know what we are missing when one hectare of forest is deforested."
On how we know fires in the Amazon are human-caused:
"There are a lot of savanna systems or other types of forests that do need fires in certain regions to actually support their development. These types of disturbances, such as the ones caused by fire, help some seeds to break down, sprout, and things like that in these ecosystems.
But this is not the case with the Amazon Rainforest. The Amazon is not a fire-dependent system; it is a fire-sensitive system. In fact, fire is a disturbance that happens naturally in the Amazon every five hundred to one thousand years, which means that it's very rare.
[A naturally-occurring fire] hasn't happened in our lifetime because it depends on mega El Niño events that cause extreme weather conditions and droughts that make the rainforest more susceptible to fire.
This means that I can affirm that in the Amazon, we don't have natural fires. 100% of the fires that we have are our anthropogenic fires.
On addressing the root problem of the Amazon's destruction:
"What we have to fight against in the Amazon is deforestation. Fire comes along with deforestation. Reducing fire is important, but it's more important to reduce deforestation."
Final words of wisdom:
“Never stop dreaming, and never stop hoping for a better future. Let's always do our best to create a better environment. Everything we do matters; everything we do is important.
And let's really pay more attention to what we eat!”
