The Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva, said this Saturday (14), in São Carlos, in the interior of São Paulo, that Brazil is experiencing climate terrorism, with people using high temperatures and low humidity to set fire to the country, harming people’s health, biodiversity and destroying forests. “There is a ban on the use of fire throughout the national territory, but there are those who are carrying out true climate terrorism,” she said in an interview with the media.
She stressed that it is essential that all public agents who are already mobilized continue to act, because there is an intention behind these actions. According to the minister, only two states are not experiencing drought. She advocated for stricter penalties for those who commit this type of crime. Currently, the penalty ranges from one to four years in prison.
“It is unacceptable that, faced with one of the worst droughts in the history of our continent and our country, and with the current ban, people continue to set fires. This causes great harm to public health, the environment, our production systems and only worsens the problem of climate change. When you have a situation where you know that setting fires is like igniting a barrel or a powder keg, that is a criminal intent,” he said.
Marina recalled that 17 people have already been arrested and there are 50 open investigations. For the minister, it is likely that there are people behind the crimes, which can be discovered through investigations and intelligence work by the Federal Police (PF). She also compared the arson attacks to the attempted coup on January 8, 2023.
“That’s why the work of the Federal Police is so important. We need to continue investigating with combined intelligence work, because that’s where we’ll be able to find out where this motivation comes from. I’m practically comparing what’s happening to January 8th. These are people deliberately acting to create chaos in Brazil, setting fire to forests and people’s productive activities.”
The minister highlighted that the losses in São Paulo have already reached R$2 billion for farmers, mainly sugarcane growers. According to her, 900 thousand hectares of agricultural and livestock areas have already been burned, 1.4 million hectares of pastureland and 1 million hectares of forest areas.
“A humid forest does not catch fire, because the fire starts and the forest itself manages to put it out. Since we are already experiencing the effects of climate change, the forest is probably losing moisture, as scientists say, and around 32% of the fires are being started intentionally to degrade the forest itself,” he analyzed.
