The federal government, in conjunction with the governments of the states of the Legal Amazon, will set up action fronts in three regions that are currently experiencing the highest number of forest fires in the biome. The measure was announced by the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MMA), after a meeting at the Palácio do Planalto in Brasília, which was attended by governors and representatives of the nine states of the Legal Amazon, in addition to Mato Grosso do Sul. 
“We have 21 municipalities that account for 50% of all fire outbreaks in the Amazon. And we are separating them into three regions where we want to set up multi-agency interfederative fronts, that is, with federal and state agencies, and we will also call on municipal agencies, so that we can act on these new fire outbreaks,” said André Lima, extraordinary secretary of Deforestation Control and Territorial Environmental Planning at the MMA.
According to Lima, the three priority areas are the regions between Porto Velho, in Rondônia, and Humaitá, in Amazonas, within the scope of BR-319; the Apuí region, in Amazonas, through which BR-230, which is the Trans-Amazonian Highway, passes; and the Novo Progresso region, in western Pará, covered by BR-163. In these locations, multi-agency bases will be installed, involving federal agencies, including the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA), the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), the National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples (FUNAI), the National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA), as well as the Federal Police, state police forces and other state agencies.
According to the government, there are already around 360 fire fronts in action in the North of the country, with more than 1,400 firefighters. From January until now, more than 59,000 fires have been recorded in the Amazon, the worst number since 2010. The result of this is that smoke from the fires reaches cities in ten states, which recorded gray skies and a decrease in air quality.
Images obtained by the Center for Weather Forecasting and Climate Studies show the concentration of carbon monoxide over a strip that extends from the North of Brazil to the South and Southeast regions, passing over Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay. Last week, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) issued a warning about the necessary health care in these cases.
According to the MMA, the organization of these fronts, which should take place over the next few weeks, will be led by the Integrated Multi-Agency Center for National Operational Coordination (Ciman), whose responsibility is to seek joint solutions to combat forest fires.
Joint action and illegal fires
After the meeting with the governors, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva, stated that most of the fires are being fought in areas under the responsibility of the federal government, but that the aid extends to other areas under the responsibility of the states.
“The federal government is responsible for conservation units, indigenous lands and settlements. And we have around 60% of the fire-fighting processes there. [na Amazônia]under our responsibility. The other part, about 40%, is the responsibility of the states. Even so, the federal government, in the logic that the fire is not state or municipal, that our common focus is to fight the fires, we are present in 74% of the fire fronts. In other words, the federal government has an effort beyond what are its mandatory responsibilities”, he stated.
One of the new features of the new fire-fighting fronts, the minister highlighted, is the police’s action to punish illegal fires in the region. “With this effort, we hope that these fronts that are now being organized in this format will help us increase our ability to deter, because there will be an investigation by the Federal Police,” she said.
Since there have been no new authorizations for fire management in the Amazon, new fire outbreaks in the biome are illegal. “There have been no new fire authorizations. Most states have prohibited them, and we are demanding that those that have not, prohibit them. New ignitions are illegal, some are criminal, and others are irregularities,” said Secretary André Lima, of the MMA.
