Recently, the internet has been flooded with pictures like the one below and messages from people all across the world coming together to pray for Brazil. While the sentiment is good, I believe is it misguided. Posts like them have led people to believe that it is one naturally occurring forest fire that’s destroying the Amazon, but that’s far from the truth.

Image credits: INPE

Sao Paulo during the middle of the day, 2300 kms away from the forest fire. Picture credits: Leondro Mota.

There is no one Amazon fire. There have been around 74,000 fires in the Brazilian Amazon since the beginning of this year, that’s about 320 fires every day burning three football fields worth of Amazon trees every minute. That’s an 83% increase from last year. It’s gotten so bad that you can even clearly see it on Google Maps^[1]. The Instagram and Twitter posts don’t talk about the problem, they talk about the consequence, and therefore while their solutions - which include donating to charities and restricting the purchase of products sourced from the rainforest - help, they don’t solve the problem.

You can’t solve a problem until you know the problem. The first step towards preventing these fires and solving this problem would be to find out why they happen. And the answer to that question is twofold.

The first reason is economics. The Amazon is being burned down to support the agribusiness, specifically the beef industry in Brazil. There is a high demand for cheap beef all around the world and Brazil sees this as a golden economic opportunity that could help its struggling economy. Brazil is, therefore, burning down to Amazon to make space for pastures to support its beef industry. This is a case of more‐developed nations transferring the environmental costs of beef consumption to less‐developed nations, and this has become so common that it has an economic term named after it called the Hamburger Connection^[2]. This practice has made Brazil the largest exporter of beef in the world, netting more than $120 billion dollars every year. Millions of people depend on this industry for livelihood and it does not make sense for Brazil to reduce or stop these practices.

The second reason is Jair Bolsonaro, the president of Brazil who has vowed to eliminate all protected areas in the Amazona and open them up for business. Often referred to as the Trump of the Tropics, Bolsonaro doesn’t believe in climate change and he sees the Amazon as Brazil’s cash cow (pun intended). He sees the demand for Brazilian beef and stops at nothing to make sure that the demand is met with adequate supply. He wants to open up the Amazon for mining and agribusiness, he says he’s going to pardon people charged with fines of deforestation^[3]. He thinks Brazil doesn’t owe the world anything when it comes to environmental protection^[4].

So now that we know the problem, what can we do? We can’t just impose bans or regulations and block people out from an economic opportunity without providing good alternatives. Those policies never work and lead to the rise of black markets which are far worse than regulated ones. The solution to this problem would be to either remove the incentive and eliminate the opportunity completely or to provide equal if not better alternatives.

·       As an emergency response to stop this forest fire and prevent further damage, we could donate to frontline Amazon groups and NGOs that aim to control and extinguish the fire.

·       Drive that demand down. On a personal level, start by being a conscious consumer and force food companies by writing to or supporting your advocates to build more responsible supply chains. Don’t buy imported beef. Cut down or stop the consumption of beef, it’s the most unsustainable thing on your plate.

·       Eliminate the opportunity. Spread awareness and advocate stopping your country from importing beef from Brazil’s or other rainforest based industries. Set and force Brazil to comply with environmental regulations, and match them with hefty consequences (stop trade, aid) if they don’t comply.

·       Provide alternatives. When the election comes, vote. Vote for leaders who understand the urgency of our climate crisis and are capable of forming a strong and forward-thinking government. Redirect aid towards the Amazon to skill train farmers and provide alternative employment. Prompt the government to invest in sustainable industries. This is where the world and Brazil’s government can get creative.

Although on the personal scale we don’t hold much power to affect change, collectively we could advocate to people who do. The Amazon holds 10% of all species on Earth, countless of which could have an immense medical and economic impact. It absorbs 25% of the CO2 emission captured by the world’s forests. Burning it down could be one of the worst things we could do to ourselves. It would aggravate our climate crisis and make our planet uninhabitable. Earth is the only home we know, let’s not destroy it.