Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: More Grassfires

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

BUENOS AIRES, Jul 28 2008 (IPS) - The burning of weeds this month set off a new rash of fires in eight provinces of northeastern Argentina, the environmental group Fundación Proteger has charged. “The Paraguay and Paraná rivers are a corridor of fire caused by hundreds of intentionally lit fires,” said Proteger president Jorge Cappato, based on satellite maps from the U.S. space agency NASA.

The activist told Tierramérica that the fires are “more disperse and more extensive” than the one in April, which were in the northern portion of Buenos Aires province and the south of Entre Ríos, covering the Argentine capital in smoke.

The burning of pastureland is a traditional practice intended to clear the fields, but it has become an unsustainable practice due to the growing scale of livestock production and the expansion of the farming frontier, added Cappato.