Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Forest Fires Here Hurt the Environment Elsewhere

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RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 26 2004 (IPS) - The gases and particulates generated by forest fires in the Brazilian Amazon cause climate changes more than 4,000 km away, says Paulo Eduardo Artaxo Neto, physics professor at the University of Sao Paulo. Satellite images allowed experts to make calculations that these substances make up 30 percent of the aerosols found in the atmosphere of Sao Paulo in August tests.

The presence of these contaminants obstructs the formation of clouds, thus reducing rainfall.

A previous study by the same university found particulates from the Amazon burnings — a method used by settlers to clear the forests — in the snow of the western Andes Mountains.